I Know I Should Be Working..

...but a friend brought his grandkids out to fish and it is such a gorgeous day that I had to go take pics and post them on facebook for him.
This is the pond of Two Dog Pond.

Getting Ready for the Fourth

This week I'll be getting ready for the Fourth of July - my booth will be at the Liberty House in Seward where I will have tons of soldered glass pendants and one of a kind pieces. My "Talking Stones" ("Speaking Bricks"?) will be at Gatherings on the Blue. More on all of this later...

Two Dog Pond Necklace Contest - Going My Way?

This week the Two Dog Pond Necklace Contest is travel related... I like the fact that this young woman looks fashionable even wearing rolled down knee-highs with her 4" heels and tight skirt. Oh to be so fancy! (and just look at those gloves! To die for!)

Here's the contest: you think of a clever saying, quote, word or phrase that would be perfect for the back side of this image. On Friday a winner will be chosen and awarded with a soldered glass pendant hanging on a 24" ball chain.
If you would like more guidelines or just like to read - there's more on the side >>>

Carry On.

A Tres Bien And Oh-So-Tasty Contest

Maggie is a brand-new blogger and she is having a contest which includes French Macarons... She has a blog called Aubergines and Olives and it's beautiful. So get this - She is giving away boxes of these melt in your mouth cookies to four lucky people entering her contest. Maggie is a total foodie. She's good people. and for pity sakes, she's giving away free cookies! Go there now!
Aubergines and Olives. Tell her Rachel sent you.

No Time Like The Present To Win A Necklace!

Congratulations to TLee for her timely entry of "No time like the present". I chose it because it's very motivating - sort of a "lets go!!!" pendant. Thank you to everyone who played this week - it was a really difficult pendant to choose a winner for because there were so many great entries! What a creative (yet sassy) bunch you are. Thank you!

The other pendant "she was ahead of her time" was my entry. I always win. Really it should say "she was an old-fashioned girl and way ahead of her time". I read that in an obituary one time. Isn't that great?

Anyway - Miss TLee - although it's not your first win, and won't be your last (I'm sure!!) would you be so kind as to e-mail me your mailing address?

...:::~*~:::...

Chicken Newsflash: this morning when I went to check the chicks there was a shrew (small mouselike animal) sitting on the edge of the box watching the chicks. It was like a cartoon! Then, in an action quite unlike any I've ever committed - I picked it up by the tail and went outside to fling it in the grass but got a bit carried away and threw it straight up in a tree. Meanwhile, Miss Frizzle, Buff Daddy, Hootie, Violet, White Chick, and all the others that haven't been named yet, are doing great. I know you want to know.

Meet My Peeps

Hello.

The taller one in back is the Buff Silkie.

This is the Black Frizzle - already has fluffy feet!

AND - loves to be held!

When I started this blog 2 years ago, it was all about what was going on at Two Dog Pond - mostly the chicken house we were working on. I had never had chickens before and with the help of my niece Kim, got 12 of the sweetest Red Star hens and one badass rooster named Cocky Rocky who ended up going free-range after attacking me one too many times when I was hanging up laundry.....

Easter Sunday of this year there was a terrible mass murder committed. We called in CSI Two Dog Pond but the crime was never solved. We think it was a mink. That's all I'm saying about that. It still freaks me out to think about it.

TODAY - I went and picked up some new chicks and they are Adorable!!

This time I got a variety - 3 Speckled Sussex, 3 Cuckoo Maran, 9 Aracauna (they lay green eggs). I was talked into also adopting a Buff Silkie and a Black Frizzle.

When they are adults, they will look like this:

Top row Left to right - Speckled Sussex, Buff Silkie, Cuckoo Maran

Bottom row L to R - Aracauna (they can be any color from buff to lilac to red to brown), Black Frizzle, and another Speckled Sussex.

...I haven't made any crowns for them like I did last time... at least not yet.

complete.

There was a complete rainbow in the sky this morning.
Now - it's raining again.

Great Deal, But Now What?

On Saturday I went to set up at the Liberty House for the Liberty Flea Market, but since I was the only one stupid enough to show up when there was a 65% chance of more storms, it was cancelled. So - I went to a church garage sale. I found this entire box of test tubes - all different shapes and sizes - for 25 cents. 25 Cents for the whole box! That is such a freaking good deal!!!

Now what do I do with them?

Seriously.

What do I do with them?

Two Dog Pond Necklace Contest - It's What Time?

Because today is the longest day of the year (my favorite day of the year) I searched for an image to do with time. This one does...and I'm hoping that's not the world's first watch pendant...

Anyway - you come up with a clever saying, verse, poem, word, quote, whatever you think makes this image even more clever. On Friday a winner will be chosen and presented with a soldered pendant on a 24" chain.
...:::~*~:::...
Meanwhile, we've had about 6" of rain this weekend and will soon be changing my business name to Two Dog Gulf....don't tell BP

This Week's Winner - Lynnie is the Wynnie

There it is! This week's winning pendant. Beautiful. Lynn from Silver.works is this weeks winner with her entry of "Keep in mind that no matter how nasty I get, I'm holding back just a little". A perfect gift for a new daughter-in-law, your teenager, your ex-husbands new wife, or just to wear when you're having 'one of those days'. The funny thing is - Lynn doesn't have a nasty bone in her. She is one of my favorite people! She'll have to find someone else to give it to...

Lynnie - I'll put your pendant in the mail.

Why the weird bails on the other pendant? I'm going to make that one into a rear-view mirror hanger. ha ha ha

PS - the majority of my ex-husbands are dead, so I mean no disrespect by the 'new wife' comment.

just kidding - wanted to see if you read the entire post or just enough to see if you won!

My Tatted Up Step-Daughter

When you go to check your Yahoo! e-mail today, chances are pretty good that this is the image you will see... That's KIRA! my step-daughter!!

No - she's not really covered in tattoos, they super-imposed those on her...

I am so ding-dang proud of her - she is showing up everywhere! She's done four national commercials this year already.

They forgot just one tattoo:

I am trying really hard to get another photo to post, it's this weeks necklace contest winner...

Father's Day Gift Request

Sunday I had a call from a woman who wanted a Father's Day gift for her husband. She had received a custom pendant with a photo of her little girl and loved it and wanted him to have one too, a pickup truck mirror hanger thing. BUT - he's a manly man that loves to hunt and do manly things....
This is what I came up with - torched, stamped and riveted metal. A bullet casing with a pretty pink crystal. Some heavy chain and a clip to hold it all together.
*in your best Tim the Toolman voice in your head*
hohoho ho ho

Two Dog Pond Necklace Contest - Amazon Style

This week's necklace image is from an old movie poster. I chose it because we all have those days... why not have the perfect necklace to wear when you're feeling like ripping up a major overpass?!

The contest is simple: enter a phrase/word/caption/whatever you think would make you giggle to see on the back side of this image.

On Friday a winner will be chosen and rewarded with a soldered glass pendant on a 24" chain.
Thanks for playing! It makes my day to read all the fun comments you come up with, and I have a feeling they are cracking you up as well!

Saturday Mornings at Liberty House in Seward, NE

Starting next Saturday, June 19th, Aunt Patty at the Liberty House is going to have a Flea Market on the lawn around the B&B every Saturday all Summer long! This is something Seward really needs - we do have a Farmer's Market, and there are a few crafters and some bakers that set up there, but this can be anyone with anything. You might find them there once, or you might find them there every Saturday. I plan on being there every Saturday that the weather allows selling my soldered glass pendants. Others have said they are selling antiques and primitives. There might be some mini-garage sales going on too. Those of us that live in the country can't very well have garage sales when only 5 cars drive by a day, so this is great! Come on out - shop here and then head to the Farmer's Market around the Town Square and get some pickles or strawberries or whatever is fresh that day.

If you want to participate, Pat is charging just $10 for a spot. Call her if you have questions, otherwise just show up and claim a spot and hand her a 10 spot.

See you there!!!

...:::~*~:::...

True Confessions:

Special thanks to The Graphics Fairy for the bike graphic, and to Just Something I Made for the bird and swirls graphic at the top. These two generously crafty blogs are so chuck full of great ideas and images, it makes my head swim!

This Week's Winner - Beer Lips

The multi-talented Miss Leah, of Moxie Photo and Design, is this week's winner with her entry of "Lips that touch beer shall come over here." Hmmmm... wonder how many times she's used that line.... When designing the back side, I became intimidated because Leah is an incredible graphic artist. I finished up the one on the left and then over-thank it (over- thinked it? over thought it?) and decided that she needed something sassier and came up with the one on the right. So, Miss Leah, not only did you win this week's necklace, but you get to choose which one you like better! Old German Guy, or Sassy Lips.

There were some really funny entries this week - thanks to all of you!

I apologize for the delay in getting this posted, but I've been a 'helper' at Vacation Bible School this week. It was great fun and a perfect reminder of why I dropped out of the Education program and switched to Studio Art so many years ago. My hat goes off to educators everywhere. You are Saints!

Two Dog Pond Necklace Contest - Pucker Up

This weeks necklace contest image is complements of Lori from Kansas. Don't you just love it? Here's the contest: You think of something clever to go with this picture and submit it here. If you think of something else clever tomorrow - submit it here. If you wake up in the middle of the night with a clever thought - submit it here. On Friday (unless Blogger is down again on Friday...) a winner will be chosen and rewarded with a soldered glass pendant of the above image with your freaking clever saying on it on a 24" ball chain.

...:::~*~:::...

This is Lori and her family. She ordered a custom necklace for the momma with their baby pictures. Lori sent me this picture with a card that said "My mom adores her new necklace. Thank you for making such a special gift. I included a picture of the "babies" with mom. Everyone loves how it turned out."

Thanks, Lori - for the kind words that just allowed me a bit of shameless self-promotion!

Now put on your clever thinking caps and start entering my awesome contest!

Building An Obelisk

I love gardening and putting cool stuff for vines to grow on in the middle of it. So - I bought a "Green Wood For the Garden" book and saw this 'easy' project. An Obelisk. I just came in from building my own. I should stick to making jewelry. My obelisk is pathetic. I whacked up a pussy willow for the sticks and only used half as many as the above illustration because the poor thing was looking lopsided! (the willow and the obelisk)

Oh - and notice how nothing is growing under the obelisk? Something keeps digging up my seeds. You'd think I would have built the obelisk lower to the ground so Bambi couldn't get at the seeds and tender plants.... Form vs. Function. It's an ongoing debate in my head.

Two Dog Pond Necklace Winner - PI Natalie

Miss Natalie is this week's contest winner. She submitted "Don't be a drag." That's funny! There were some other good ones too - lots of good ones. I'm not sure if putting a crown on the back makes it politically incorrect or not... does it? I would think that politically incorrect would be something like "Tipper found a snapshot from the first 'Global Warming' meeting, and it was all over." That would be wrong. Right? (Look closely at the clown in the middle...)

...:::~*~:::...

Miss Natalie - send me your mailing address and I will pop this PI Pendant in the mail complete with a lovely 24" ball chain.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Snarky and PI, Rachel

The Flowers in My Garden

Stone Crystal Quartz Wand Dingles

Just finished these up and I love them! I soldered around the tops of some crystal quartz to add to OOAK necklaces....