Travel Challenge Staycation - Olympia WA

 Welcome to the Travel Challenge Staycation version.  This year Erin decided to have us blog about our home town.  I currently live in Olympia Washington.  I moved here approximately 22 years ago when my daughter was ready to start high school. 

Olympia is the capital of the state of Washington and was established as a city in 1859.  It is also the county seat of Thurston County.  It makes up part of the tri-city area of Puget Sound, the other cities being Lacey and Tumwater.

On my staycation I took daily walks with my dog., Hank.  He is a Chow and Lab mix and the most gentle dog that I know.  He is a very people person, always loving some attention.

The strap over his nose is called a "Gentle Lead" which allows me to have a bit of control over him as he is a big dog (90 lbs.)  He doesn't mind it too much but is glad to get it off once we are home.

One of Hank's favorite places to visit.  The wait staff always has a doggie biscuit or two when we come by.

On one of our walks we discovered an older car.  Not sure of the age but Olympia does have several car collector clubs.  Here is a link to pictures of a recent show:  12th-annual-tenino-quarrymen-car show

You will see giant sunflowers in peoples yards as they grow to six-seven feet tall.

or you can see growing pumpkins

or possibly even a family of deer

This was the first time that I had seen a pair of fawns.

Here is a preview of the beads that I used in my jewelry set.

I decided to make something with wood for two reasons.  I had the beads already and Olympia is a port that exports logs to other areas of the world.  I was hoping to get a picture of one of the trucks taking the logs down to the docks but wasn't able to.  I also used agates as they are a type of stone that is found here in Washington.

This pictures shows of the red-orange agates that I used both in the necklace and in the earrings.

Please visit Erin's website (2nd-annual-challenge-of-travel)  to see the list of other participants.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will come again.

Carolyn

Millenium Moment Giveaway

Pips from Pips Jewellery is having a giveaway (a-millenium-moment-calls-for-giveaway) to celebrate having 1000 likes on her Facebook page. 

Pips is a polymer clay bead artist from Bath, United Kingdom.  She is giving away of some of her newly designed polymer clay beads.  She has pictures of some of her current beads on her giveaway blog page that are so beautiful.  Here are a couple of beads from her web page that I like.

Remember leaves

Clemetis bud

I am looking forward to seeing what the new beads look like and would love to win some.

If you would like a chance to win some free beads, please visit the link above and find out how to enter the giveaway.

Thanks for stopping by.

Be sure to come back on Saturday, August 31, to see what I made for Erin's Travel Staycation Challenge.  See you then if not before.

Carolyn

Challenge of Travel Blog Hop coming

I have decided to participate in Erin of Treasures Found's second annual Travel Challenge Blog Hop to be held on August 31, 2013.  Here is a link to her blog where she talks about the blog hop:  2nd-annual-challenge-of-travel.

2nd-annual-challenge-of-travel

This year the theme is staycation.  Please return on August 31 to here where I spent my staycation.

Thanks for stopping by.

Carolyn

Sleepy Critter giveaway

Tree Wing Studios is having a giveaway on the cutest little critter beads, owls, foxes, and fawns that she makes.  Which one would you like to win?

Sleepy Critters by Tree Wing Studios

You can visit her blog http://www.treewingsstudio.com/2013/08/sleepy-critter-guessing-game-giveaway.html to enter.

Thank you for stopping by.

Carolyn

Comments are always welcome.

Humblebeads free tutorial

Sunday is Heather of Humblebead's 40th birthday.  She has been celebrating all week by offering free tutorials and giveaways on her blog. 

Her first tutorial is for her Midnight Garden bracelet.  You can find it on her blog here:  http://www.humblebeads.com/blog/midnight-garden-bracelet-tutorial-giveaway.




Picture is from Heather's blog mentioned above.



  

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to go by Heather's blog and wish her Happy 40th Birthday.

Carolyn

Alenka's blog anniversary blog hop

The day has finally come for Alenka's blog anniversary blog hop.  As I wrote in my previous post, I responded to Alenka's post for people to participate in her blog hop.  I received a blue to purple colored polymer clay bar that she made herself. 

I had thought about a bracelet with the bar as the center piece but it is a straight bar with no curve to it.  As I thought about it, I gathered together some beads that I thought would go well with it. 

Crystals shaded from blue to purple

I found some crystals that I thought followed the colors in the bar and decided to make a necklace with the bar as the centerpiece with some dangles at the bottom.

Here is a look at the entire necklace but I have close-ups of the bar and dangles.

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to visit it the other designers in the blog hop:

Ginger Bishop           

Susan Kennedy         

Becky Pancake          

Debbie(Kepi) Rasmussen   

Evelyn Shelby 

Dini Bruinsma           

Monique Urquhart   

Jo-Ann Woolverton  

Penny May     

Carolyn Lawson       You are here

Ana Cravidao                        

Dolores Raml                        

Cynthia Machata

Your comments are always welcome.

Carolyn

Blog hop is Sunday not Saturday

I need to apologize to everyone.  I got the date of the blog hop wrong.  It is actually tomorrow, Sunday August 11.  I do hope that you will come back tomorrow and see what I made with Alenka's component.

Above is the component I had to work with.  I like what I did with it and hope you will return tomorrow to see what I did.

Here is a hint of what I did.  You have to come back tomorrow to see the entire piece.

Thanks for stopping by.

Carolyn
 

Alenka's blog anniversay blog hop coming up soon

I have lots of blogs that I follow and back in June one of them celebrated her first blog anniversay.  Pepita Handmade asked her followers what they would prefer that she do and the results were a blog hop.  Here is a link to Alenka's announcement post: my-1st-blogoversary.

A couple of weeks later she announced that 13 (her lucky number) of us would be participating.  Alenka made the components that she sent to each one of us.  I am the happy recipent of the blue bar in the second row. 

The picture above does not do the piece I received any justice and the pictures that I took are not much better.  In fact they are much worse.

 

I am certainly going to have to take better pictures than this for reveal day.  These do not show the lovely graduated shaes from light blue through dark blue to shades of purple.

Be sure to come back again on Saturday, August 11 and see what I and other beaders have made. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Carolyn