Things That Sparkle and Things That Don't

Finish wholesale orders. Check.
Harvest the gourds. Check.
Now I can sit back and enjoy the ride for a couple of days.
Life is Good.

Necklace Contest - Week 48

It's Harvest Time in Nebraska - all the farmers are hoping for a HUGE harvest. What better way to celebrate Harvest than with an image of an obviously successful harvested pickle (or watermelon). So here's the contest - you enter what you think would be a clever quote, phrase, or comment for the backside of this image. On Friday I will turn the winning quote into a pendant and ship it off to the winner. More details are available on the side bar, if you need them.>>>

Here's to the most successful harvest ever....

No Offense, Boys!

Congratulations to svelteSTUFF for her winning entry of "so many men... ....so many reasons to be single!" We all have friends in our lives to whom this is could be so appropriate. Still, we mean no disrespect to the wonderful men in our lives - you know who you are, and we love you. But - there really are a bunch of goofballs out there that make some of us have reason to be happy we married the good ones and others of us happy to be single!

Send me your mailing address, Miss svelteSTUFF, and I will mail you your necklace.

Everyone else, have a good weekend!

Necklace Contest - Week 47

This week's contest features every woman's fantasy.... you can take it from there.

The contest is simple - come up with a saying, quote, word, whatever that you think would be appropriate for the back side of a pendant. The complete "rules" are posted on the side>>> if you need them.

Thanks to everyone who wished me luck at the Kansas Show - it was wonderful! Met lots of fun people and got to spend time with my Amazing Cousins Phyllis and Rita. I had a blast with them - thanks, girls. We also celebrated our Uncle's 90th Birthday!

Winner Week 47 - So Says Tamera!

Congratulations, Miss Tamera! You are this week's winner with "Not all who wander are lost". There were so many good suggestions this week - it was tough to choose. I chose the one that I would like to wear the most - especially this weekend...

Tamera - please e-mail me (rachel@twododgpond.com) your mailing address and I will send you your winning necklace!

Thank you to everyone for entering this week.

...::~::...

And now I'm off to Kansas for {what I hope to be} the most successful arts and crafts festival I've ever participated in. Even better, my two favorite cousins Rita and Phyllis are driving over from Missouri and we're going to celebrate (quite belatedly) Uncle Edgar's 90th Birthday! As an added bonus, BFF Suzy from Colorado is going to meet me at the festival and come back and spend a week at Two Dog Pond. Yahoo!

Week 46 - Necklace Contest

For this week's contest, I chose an old postcard image of this guy on the railroad tracks. Love those colors, so I didn't mess with trying to clean up the lines or anything else about it. It is what it is. Now it's your turn - come up with a clever saying, comment or phrase for the back side of this image. Make it something you would like to wear. The pendant is going to be 1 x 1.75" if that helps you think. On Friday we will choose a winner and that lucky person will be rewarded with a soldered glass pendant on a chain! Yahoo!

This Week's Winner is....

Trent! Congratulations - your suggestion was hysterical! Do you think this girl went home with that soldier boy after the dance or dumped him and rode someone elses pony home? E-mail me your address, Trent, and I will mail you your necklace. Thanks to everyone who played this week - come on back next week!

.:. .:. .:. .:.

Today's cute Scootch picture:

eyeing a Daddy-long-legs...

New Ornaments for 2009

Along with the ornaments on the website, these are my 'new' Two Dog Pond Ornaments. All three have beveled glass - The photo part of the top one is 2"x3" and has red stained glass and a 1" bevel soldered to the bottom. There are three chandelier style crystals hanging from it. The diamond shaped one is 3"x1.75" (the beveled part) and has scrolly pounded wires and chandelier crystals. The one on the left is a 2"x2" bevel with pounded, twisted scrolly wire and a freshwater pearl. These will be appearing on my website soon!

Necklace Contest - Week 45

Here's an image to make us all happy we don't have to dress our children like this anymore...

The contest is a simple one, the rules are posted on the side bar if you like to read. You just make a suggestion for what should be on the back side of the image when it's made into a soldered glass pendant. It can be a saying, a quote, a word, your initials (but you won't win with that entry) or anything you think would be clever and want to wear. On Friday a winner will be chosen and will receive a soldered glass pendant on a 24" base metal chain.

Happy Labor Day!

Scootch trying to keep up with Rumple on a walk to the dam.

Meet Scootch - We're Two Dog Pond Again!

Isn't she adorable?
Rumple meets Princess Scootch

"Hey, look at me. Look at this fancy thing I can do with my feet"

Rumple impressing Scootch

Week Forty Four - Necklace WINNER

Congratulations to TINA of Paper Cowgirl for her winning entry of "If the Broom fits...." It's incredibly clever, as were some of the other entries...but, notice what I just noticed is that I added "wear it". Honestly, I'm so ding-dang tired this is the third time I messed this one up! So, Tina, when you e-mail me your mailing address, let me know if you would like red sparkly shoes (they look like booties by the time I get the sparkles on them - very mod) AND if you would like it the way it is, or a new one. I am going to do it right, I promise. Meanwhile - everyone go check out the Paper Cowgirl site. I wanna be one! If I still lived in Dallas, I would be all over that event. Have fun ladies!

PS - It's the new puppy. She kept Rumple and me awake all night. Rumple and Scootch are now sleeping on the floor listening to classical music while I re-do everything a couple times....
m u s t g e t s l e e p

That's what she said...

You Want Me To Do A Presentation On What?

Several weeks ago Deb, a member of the Staplehurst Women's Club, called and asked me to do a presentation at their next meeting. I said, sure - I could talk about my jewelry and do a demonstration on how to make soldered glass pendants. Deb said, "mmmm....no. How about you bring some wine and tell us how to make it." So I did. We started with a wine tasting. That way what I said might sound more interesting...

It did to me, anyway.

After talking about harvesting, making the must, testing the Brix levels, blah blah blah. I did my Billy Blanks commercial for Two Dog Pond Wine Making. Just set it and forget it style. I thought I would share this with all of you - it's fun and easy!

Two Dog Pond Wine

Dissolve 3 1/2 cups of sugar with some filtered water on the stovetop to make a simple syrup. Set aside to cool. Rehydrate 1/4 teaspoon of wine yeast in warm water. In a glass gallon jug, pour 2 quarts of 100% juice, the simple syrup and rehydrated yeast. Fill the gallon jug to the neck with filtered water, swish it all around to mix it up a bit. Add an airlock to the top (a large balloon will work too) and let it sit for 6-8 weeks. Enjoy!

For the 100% juice, I recommend using Welch's Grape Juice or Ocean Spray's Cranberry Grape Juice. Anything that's 100% juice. Except Apple. Yuch.

And, guess what? I'm getting a puppy!!!

Puppy Interviews

Since Reese passed away a few months ago, we've been contemplating getting another dog so we're still "Two" Dog Pond and so that Rumple has someone else to play with. We're totally mutt people, so we were quite interested when we heard about these pups. They are chow, weimerhumorheimer, (OK, I can't remember the rest...but they herd cattle and some live in Alaska and some are fuzzy. My brain...yikes!) Anyway, a friend has these adorable fuzz ball puppies. The momma dog "Rida" is a mellow, sweet dog that came and sat with us and watched us. All the puppies are all spoken for except for these two all black females... This little cutie has a white spot on her left foot and a white spot on her chest.
Feel free to chime in here. Tim might need some coaxing to have another puppy around. He reads your comments -