All Treats. Few Tricks.

I'll bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween. 
~Author Unknown

It is Halloween today but around here the treats were handed out on Sunday afternoon. I am told that we had 66 trick-or-treaters come by! Not only did my husband do a good job of making sure all the candy I supplied him with was taken, but he dipped into the bin of older candy (mostly Lifesavers and the random Dum Dum). So I guess, that was a bit of a trick for those that came late! 
 
Today I have a few treats to share... 
 

The first is a treat for me. I just found out that I won $100 worth of online classes from the "Dream Jewelry Studio" drawing at CraftArtEdu.com. Woot! I am going to treat myself to some polymer clay classes, like this one to make enchanting crown boxes. Or these interchangeable rings. Or perhaps Tiny Dancer and I would like to make these cute polymer clay bugs. Or maybe a make your own rubber stamp. Or a mixed media jewelry making exploration of a winged steampunk heart. Or a class making felted flower earrings to feed my new love of felting after making embellished felted leaves with my daughter at the Inspired by Nature retreat last weekend (pictures and more to follow soon!).

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A few weeks back I was surprised by a package of beads from Kalmbach Publishing, publishers of the Bead Soup Book that I am honored to be a part of. They are hosting a little bead soup party this month in conjunction with the book. They asked bead stores across the country to put together a little bead soup to share with random participants. I got a sweet little package of beads from a shop right here in my state of Wisconsin - Meant To Bead in Sun Prairie! I have never been, but now I know that I will have to stop in sometime when I am in that neck of the woods. 

They sent me a pretty and springy palette of light blues, yellow and white with a gold clasp. I got glass tulip beads, faceted fire polish, crystal bicones, a sweet little flower lampwork bead and a pretty hammered Tierra Cast clasp. 

I added some ice blue shell coin beads, a fancy gold plated bracelet chain and some dainty gold plated fancy headpins from Beadalon. 

I went with a charm style bracelet. My trick with making these is to stagger groups of the beads along the length of the chain. I lay the chain out and then put the beads along the edge to give me a sense of the rhythm of the piece. Then I make all the dangles up and attach them. I kept switching between my round nose pliers and my wire cutters until I realized that my round nose pliers has an integrated cutter in them. Doh! Trick is on me!

My result is this flirty charm style bracelet I am calling "Meant to Be" in honor of the name of the store that graciously supplied the beads.

I wrote about the 7,000 Bracelets of Hope on the Art Bead Scene last week. This is an arm (no pun intended) of the Global Genes Project dedicated to putting a blue bracelet on the wrist of a caregiver of someone with a genetic disorder. To let them know that someone out there is thinking of them with hope. Did you know there are 7,000 identified rare diseases and over 80% of them are caused by a faulty gene? It makes me grateful and frankly amazed that my children do not have a genetic disorder. Since these beads were donated to me, I plan to donate this special bracelet to the 7,000 Bracelets of Hope charity. I have donated to this cause in the past, and I hope that this "Meant to Be" bracelet will bring cheer to someone. If you are interested in donating to the cause, please check out their website.

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Each year we have a tradition where we carve pumpkins with our friends the DiSalvo family. We figure that we have been doing this for 15 years, since I know that we started before we had children. We get together for an evening of food and football and carve our pumpkins with the Pumpkin Masters templates. 

Every year when I was little I would ask to be a princess. I remember that we would parade around the school up and down the hallways in our costumes. I had this pink dress that was thrifted and my mom made this way cool cone hat with a scarf at the top. And I had on a long strand of my mom's pearls. I remember the tink-tink-tink as they went bouncing down the hallway when the string broke. 

For years, my daughter asked to be a witch. Or Tinkerbell. I remember the year that I made her into Hannah Montana. And the so-cute costume I made when my son was two of a dinosaur made from two pairs of green sweatpants, a green hooded sweatshirt, stiffened felt, batting and googly eyes. I hate premade costumes. We go to Goodwill and get creative. This year Tiny Dancer picked out a black bob wig, some big sunglasses and a short black trench coat. She was going to be a spy at school. When we got there today, I asked if she had her costume. Of course, she left it at home. I could have gone back to get it, but she blew it off saying, "That's okay." But it wasn't okay with me. So now I have a $12 wig, $4 sunglasses, and $10 jacket. I sure hope she knows that she will be wearing that for Christmas. ;-)

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Bead Style Magazine has a new Pinterest board called "Words to Bead By" that I just love. It shows what looks like a message tacked up on a board. I think this treat is a 'something good' today!

 

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And the final treat is one for you...with a bit of a trick ;-). I have to get my Etsy site back up and running after shutting it off from my weekend trip. But before I do that, I have to double-check that I won't be putting some of the Simple Truths back out there that sold during our trunk show. I made three exclusive designs for the goodie bags that all had a woodsy feel. Of course, I made extra and they will be in the shop soon. They are in my Forest Finery style. For one random lucky participant, I would like to give one away. That is the treat. The trick is that I am going to make the winner select from the quotes only, and not the images. Which quote is your favorite?

'a weed is but an unloved flower'  ~Ella Wheeler Wilcox

'every leaf a miracle' ~Walt Whitman

'i speak for the trees' ~The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

Leave a comment below telling me your favorite of these three quotes or a favorite trick or treat memory and I will announce a winner on Friday! 

P.S. For another treat, tune in tomorrow, November 1st, as I reveal the new Challenge of Color inspiration. I think you are going to love it! And then come back on Friday, November 2nd as I share the Michaels Toast of the Town variation mini blog hop and the Humblebeads Teal Branches blog hop! Treats galore!