Rain, Destashes, etc.

Remember those gorgeous begonias hydrangeas?  Well, they're all brown and crunchy and dead.

We are having a pretty bad drought like many other areas.  When we've gone on vacation in the past, we usually just put all our houseplants out on the back patio and when we come back, even after three weeks, everything including the entire vegetable garden is all plumped out and glowing with superlife.  We've grown cocky.

A couple days before returning my husband got a voicemail from our friends desperately wanting to know how to turn on the hose to water our dying garden and plants.  We didn't even ask them to come water--the drought was so bad they figured everything was dire here so they drove all the way from their farm and then they get here and can't even get the hose working because my husband turned the water off.  It's leaked before, so I guess he did it to avoid troubles.  They even went down to the Big M and bought a crappy wrench to try to get the stupid thing working.  Alas...

So nothing received one drop of water the entire trip but luckily the tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce are all doing well and probably most of the other stuff that hasn't ripened or come up yet.  Most of the houseplants are okay too.  The only thing that's completely ruined are those lovely hydrangeas.

But it's finally raining here.  Hard.  It got dark very early, like winter-early and although it's been a pretty hot day, I kept forgetting it was summer.  Light is everything.

I spent this strangely lit day taking photos and listing some destash bead lots, with more to come soon.

 Lots of blue.  But also warmer things, like these links...

 And these drops.  I just made some earrings with some of these that I altered.  I love that they are really long but featherweight.  I got them off an insanely long vintage DIY crafter necklace I got in Topeka.

Go check out my destash stuff here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/shipwreckdandy?section_id=6937868

I guess I'm finally coming out of my list-resist 'episode.'  I have so many things lined up to list and I start feeling weird when I see my number of items growing.  Right now I'm at 223 and I was just down under 200 finally.  I once had over 300 items in my shop.  It's about 220 too many.  So I've been not-renewing things that seem even borderline not super.

I did renew some things today that expired while I was away and also...

I renewed most of my custom, made-to-order polymer clay beads.  Let the beadmaking commence.

I've also listed a few necklaces in the last couple days:

 Love this stone pendant.  I thought it was Carnelian, but it's got some dark bands in it that make me think it's agate or something.  Any ideas?

 This is one of my favorite necklaces I've made.  It's got a little intrigue going on with some pareidolia on the pendant.  Go look at it up close in my shop and see if you can see something unusual on the metal pendant.  My next post I'll post some photos of the high strangeness.

 Love these nut beads.  Got them in a dusty bag of odds n' ends at Pastense though, so I'm not sure exactly what they are.

 Below is one of the necklaces I made while on that crimping binge before I left.  I've got to keep doing that.  Did anybody who was inspired to try it again ever do so?  I want to see!

Gosh it's raining hard again!

Alice--I will absolutely get in touch with you when I'm in Topeka again!  We always go end of June/beginning of July.
Cynthia--That sounds right for the timeframe of acquiring the carnelianish beads--thanks!  And yes, they do have an 'old' vibe.  Any clue what the material is?  Bakelite maybe?  Flapper necklace--I'm thinking bakelite completely makes sense with the color and texture quality.
Juliette and Rosie--thanks! And I've finally added your guys's blogs to my blogroll along with some others!