Mini Vacation in Ruidoso

We took a long weekend trip to Ruidoso, NM.  I wanted to share some photos with you. 

This was our cute cabin.

It sat next to this cuter cabin.

There were bears behind the cabin.

This guy was my favorite bear.

The first day we went to a beautiful lake called Grindstone.

My husband and son enjoyed some fishing.

 

 

 

While I enjoyed hiking and taking photos of wild flowers.

Until in between my toes started hurting and I stepped and almost fell into mud.  Flips flops aren’t good hiking shoes just so you know.

We also went to Lincoln, NM.  Billy the Kid made the place famous.  I begged my husband to take me even though he didn’t want to go.   He said it wouldn’t be worth it.  He was right.  They were having a big celebration all weekend and all of the museums were closed Friday late afternoon.  I still don’t understand why.  Here are a few shots from the Old West Town.

This is the Dolan House. 

 

Even though Billy the Kid is dangerous I let David hang out with him for a bit.

 

Notice the closed sign.  We found this on all of the buildings.  Grrr.

We also visited the Inn of the Mountain Gods.

We were going to rent a paddle boat, but they wouldn’t rent them because of possible stormy weather.

The lake at the Inn.  

The last full day we tried to find new lakes to visit.  They were over crowded and required permits so we went back to Grindstone, but took the dog this time. 

Because it was Saturday this lake was also a bit crowded and my husband didn’t like his fishing spot so my he and son hiked over in the sprinkling rain to a “good” spot.

The blind dog couldn’t walk on the rocky ledge so the dog and I stayed in the original spot until the sprinkles became a down pour. I looked like a mad woman trying to hike with my blind dog (who hates to get wet in the rain) back to the truck while carrying heavy stuff such as my camera bag and lenses.  It was muddy and slippery and miserable.  It made me look at my husband like this.

He did feel bad.  Ruidoso is a nice place but it is too commercialized for us.  I think we prefer the small town of Red River, NM.  It was good to get away and I had a ton of naps and rested.  Now back to reality.  School starts in 2 weeks.  Yuck.

A Thank You and an Apology

I have found blogging to be rewarding in many ways.  For me the best part is getting to know such great people.  One such person is Michelle.  She really liked my post about displaying my vacation shells because she loves all things beachy.  She shared with me that she collects sand from all the beaches she visits.  I told her that I wished I had brought home some sand with my shells and she offered to send me some.  I expected a small box containing a little sand in a bag.  I should never under estimate a blogger buddy. 

Let me show you what I received in the mail.

My box decorated of course with a beautiful flower.

And several individually wrapped items tied with beautiful ribbon along with my expected bag of sand.

I opened the packages to find so many fun surprises.

A decorated bingo card with a sand dollar from Destin, FL.

A great glass bottle filled with sand.

A bingo tile holder with SUMMMER spelled out.

Here’s my gifts with with my vacation shells.

And I got a beachy card that has a print of  my favorite beach, 7 mile beach in Grand Cayman.  There was a nice note inside.

Thank you so much Michelle for making my day. 

And now for the apology. 

I have recently received 2 blogger awards.  I have been so busy that I have lost track of the emails I received.  I was trying to think of who to pass them too and before I knew it one week turned into several.  I am very sorry and I truly do appreciate that 2 people felt my blog was worthy of an award. 

I am going out of town tomorrow morning.  I still need to pack.  I am trying to do laundry and clean right now and in 3 minutes it will be tomorrow.  After this trip I have to get ready for school to start.  Life always seems so busy.   It will be nice for our family to have some time together before then to enjoy a trip to Ruidoso, NM. 

Thanks for reading and following.

Tracy

 

Necklace Tutorial

A promise is a promise. When I showed you some of my necklaces that I have made I said I would show you how to make them.  You can see the other necklaces here.   

This necklace tutorial can also be used for bracelets.  You will just make it shorter so that it fits on your wrist. 

Ok here we go.

I have an obsession with beads.  Once I start buying them, I can’t quit.  My favorite places to buy beads are listed below.  Click on the name to take you to the website.

Fire Mountain Gems and Beads

Happy Mango Beads

Gifts Joy

HHH Enterprises

I also shop at Hobby Lobby and Michaels.

This is most of my collection.  I recommend these containers that can be found at most craft stores.  It makes it easy to store and see your beads.

 

I would like to have better jewelry tools.  I have a mini tool kit that I use.   It is also much easier to make jewelry if you get a board that will help you measure and see your design before you build your necklace.

I use this nylon coated wire from Hobby Lobby.  Sometimes I buy the one that is “Best” flexibility instead of just good.

These are my favorite necklace clasps from Hobby Lobby.  I rarely buy pure silver because of the cost.  You also need crimp beads.

Use the board to measure the wire.  I like my necklaces to be around the 8 to 9 mark.  It depends on your  neck size and how long you want the necklace to be.  Always give your self at least an inch and a half on either end of extra wire to be able to attach the clasps. 

Cut your wire with wire cutters.

I chose simple beads so I could make this necklace easily.  The bigger the beads the faster you can make it.

I placed my pearls on the board and then added the pink beads in between.

Here are some ideas for a pendant for this  necklace.  I didn’t use one though.

If you use a pendant then you want to center it.   I removed a pearl so that the beads would be even on either side of the pendant.

Place a crimp bead onto the nylon wire.

Add the clasp.  And then put the wire back into the crimp to form a loop. 

 

Push the crimp bead close to the clasp and use either a crimper or some flat pliers to smash the crimp bead onto the wire. 

Start adding beads.

When you get all of your beads onto the wire then you need to add the other end of the clasp.  First you have to put on another crimp bead.

Make sure that you pull the crimp bead and the clasp down next to the bead and crimp.

Trim the wire long enough to fit it into the bead so it will stay but short enough so you can work with it by bending it and getting it into the bead hole.

I hope this helps you make some great jewelry.  If you want to make multi stranded necklaces then you just add more wires into the same crimp bead. 

Thanks for taking time to read my tutorial. 

Linking to

Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative

Motivate Me Monday @ Keeping It Simple

DIY Project Parade @ The DIY Showoff

Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Anything Related @ All Things Related

Get Your Craft On @ Today’s Creative Blog

Topsy Turvey Tuesdays @ I’m Topsy Turvey

Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts

DIY Tutorial @ Fine Craft Guild

Strut Your Stuff @ Somewhat Simple

22 Year Reunion…Yeah I Know

So we had our 22nd reunion in place of our 20th.  It was great!!!  I had a ton of fun.  I thought I would share a few photos with you.

This is my best friend since the 10th grade Becky and me at the mixer registration.

This is Stacey and Detria.  The 3 of us had many conversations trying to get the reunion planned.  It wouldn’t have been possible without them. 

A couple of group shots at the park.

We rented a club downtown for our dinner/dance.

Yep I was having some fun.

My friend Becky with her husband and my husband. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Window Treatment Part One

Why is nothing ever as easy as you think it will be?  I have 2 bay windows.  The one in the front living room has curtains.  I thought it was the same as the kitchen bay window.  Not a chance.  The walls are at a angle in the kitchen so I had to improvise and use corner connectors from Bed Bath and Beyond.

They do this.

I didn’t buy the rods from Bed Bath and Beyond because they would have been $100 plus.  I got them at Target for about $30.  Well the connector only works on the telescoping end so I had to cut one in half and make both ends of the middle rod have telescoping ends.  Not a big deal, but I am not sure how the manufacturer thinks they are suppose to work without doing that. 

Here is the entire hardware waiting for me to have time to sew.  My reunion took up my entire weekend and I am leaving Thursday for a trip to Ruidoso, NM.