Have I Bought Anything Yet?

Of course I have! I'm talking about Kate McKinnon's Soul Clearing Sale, which I wrote about in yesterday's post.

I logged onto Kate's site when I first got in to work this morning and was disappointed to find the sale hadn't started yet. Then again, Kate is two hours behind us in Tuscon so I really wasn't too surprised, but that's how excited I was. By 9:45, the first items were listed and what a delightful selection there was. By 10 a.m., I had made my first choice, my payment had cleared PayPal (the choosing took the time, the payment part was almost instaneous - I do love PayPal, it's so safe and easy) and the Bone Box was mine!! (I hope to have a photo to post shortly, I'm just waiting for permission from Kate.) I have been dreaming up a necklace in my head and collecting components since I was in Mexico in January, and I have a feeling the Bone Box will be the perfect focal piece for it. I also love the fact that it has one of Michelle Goldstein's bones in it as I think they are fabulous.

For the rest of the day, I've been checking back to her site from time to time (quite frequently, really, but I'm going to pretend it wasn't that often, lest my boss should read this and think I'm not getting any work done!) to see what has been newly posted, as Kate is adding items throughout the day as other pieces sell and will be doing so for the next two weeks. Apparently you can set it up so the computer notifies you that something new has been posted on her website but that seems to take the fun out of it for me, it's much more of a thrill for me to do it manually.

It's fun to watch and see what is posted and how quickly things disappear. She had two regular sized black Ott lights together with at least one new bulb listed for only $75 US, which I thought was a pretty good deal, as those things are pretty darned expensive but so very useful, I was seriously tempted but then decided I really didn't need to have her ship them all the way up here to Canada. But they went up and then disappeared, so someone else knew it was a bargain! Some items that I thought would disappear in an instant are still there, which surprises me, they are so lovely. I am particularly admiring the Flower Circlet necklace, it has the most beautifully shaped petals and patina. I'm sure its destined owner just hasn't logged on yet. There is also an Orange Spiney ring which is just my size and totally funky, but I hesitate to shop too early, in case there is something else over the next several days which I might covet even more...

It's an Addiction with a capital "A"

My friend Sharon wrote about her addiction to Raggedy Ann dolls the other day in her blog http://www.psychiccottage.com/blog/, which got me thinking about my own harmless addictions. The current one I have is to beads. I am loving them more and more every day. I enjoy putting them together to see what I can make as well as seeing what other people do with their visions and talent.



Overall, it's a relatively harmless addiction, although somewhat damaging to my wallet, as the more beads I see, the more I want to buy to make more stuff of my own, or to take another class to learn how someone makes what they do. Having a 9 to 5 job tends to interfere with the creative process, given that I have to go to work Monday to Friday instead of staying home to play with the beads all day but at the same time, it pays for the beads!



I am also getting somewhat addicted to blogs. I like reading other people's postings, to see what they've got to say about the world and themselves. I especially enjoy reading blogs that my friends have written, because it's a way of learning more about who they are and what interests them and finding out what we have in common. It's a fascinating glimpse into their psyche. I also like reading random blogs of total strangers. It's a bit voyeuristic but also quite interesting and informative. And of course, I'm having fun writing my own.



The best part is when my two addictions join together in a delightful way, as happened today. Kate McKinnon (http://www.katemckinnon.com/) is the woman who taught me how to make things from precious metal clay earlier this year and she has a fascinating blog, full of her amazing metalwork creations, news of the day, political commentary, baseball, nature and you name it. One of her postings today is a link to the website of a woman named Michele Goldstein, who makes the coolest glass beads - check it out: http://michelegoldstein.bigcartel.com/ - I am totally loving her skull beads and little bones! I'd love to know how to make them and will hopefully be able to take a class from her some day, but for now, I am just totally in awe of Michele's very cool fabrications!!

And then of course there is my addiction to the game Free Cell, which isn't related to beading at all, I just love to play it whenever I can...

Here's a picture of Kate and me that was taken this past May when she taught PMC at Beadfx.