JANUARY 15% OFF SALE

*DURING THE MONTH OF JANUARY*

15% off SALE on all Special Order Requests for items in my SOLD section on Etsy!

www.brilynn.etsy.com

(...and I mean that in more ways than one!)

I've been so incredibly B.U.S.Y. over the past couple of months that I just haven't had time or anything even remotely interesting to write about...so, I will be "Out To Lunch" (as far as blogging) for awhile making & selling beads and enjoying the Christmas holiday's with my family!

I hope you all have a wonderfully happy Christmas and let's pray that 2010 will be a wonderful and triumphant one for America!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

(Let's keep CHRIST in CHRISTmas!)

HI MOM AND DAD!

Sorry...I don't have anything interesting to post

here on my blog!

I just don't have anything worth sharing with the world!

Thanks for dropping by!

I LOVE YOU!

Happy 18 Years to Us!

...love those sleeves...

WARNING: NAKED BABY SWIMMING VIDEO!!!

Bailey "swimming" in her "pool"....

I WANT TO LIVE HERE...

I want to live in this cottage. I want to live here and make beads in this magical cottage. I don't care that there is a large black curtain hanging behind the cottage (look closely) and I have no idea why, but I want to live here. I think I would be happy here. When life gets really busy and hectic and the future of our country scares me, I want to find this cottage and hide there. I'd make cookies. Cookies and beads. I guess my husband can come with me. Yeah, he can move in there with me. I need someone to kill all of the spiders that are probably in that garden....

Thank you, Veterans...

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.

~Elmer Davis

Starbucks Outrageous Oatmeal Cookies!

It was cold and rainy and windy and dark here in Oregon yesterday...the PERFECT time to make cookies, right?

While getting coffee at Starbucks the other day, Brian and I shared one of their "Outrageous Oatmeal Cookies" and it was incredibly, wonderfully, Autumn-ishly, delicious and I found the recipe, on-line, that actually came from Starbucks! So here it is! Try it, if you haven't already!

Outrageous Oatmeal Cookie

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats (not quick cooking)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup dark raisin

1/4 cup golden raisin

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 tablespoons dark raisins, for topping

4 tablespoons golden raisins, for topping

*******

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Blend oats, flour raisins, cranberries, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

Beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg, cinnamon, and vanilla; beat until combined.

Gradually add oat mixture to butter mixture; beat until combined.

Combine raisins for topping in separate bowl and set aside.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoons, 2 inches apart onto two lightly greased baking sheets.

Place 1 mounded tsp of raisins on top of dough.

Bake about 12-16 minutes, until cookies are golden brown, but still soft. Cool on sheets before serving.

THIS IS ME AT THE TORCH!

I've never seen myself making beads before!

Suzy from Suzy Homemaker on Etsy took pictures of me at the torch (with her beautiful, new Canon that I will, one day, sneak into her house to steal...).

Look at those GLAMOROUS fingernails!

I stopped having acrylic nails after I kept setting them on fire...

It's COLD down there in my studio...

I'll be lucky if I don't go blind by the time I'm 50,

but I am a lucky girl that I get to do what I do...

Etsy Treasury!!!

A big THANK YOU to Ileana from enchantedbeas on Etsy

for including my Amber Floral Egg/Tussie-Mussie in her Treasury today!!!

MY LATEST ADDITION...KNITTING NEEDLES!

I'm not a knitter, but I've been wanting to make bead-topped knitting needles for a long time.

I hope they work well for the knitters out there.

I thought they would be nice Christmas gifts...

I'd love to know what you think or if you have any

comments !

I KNOW IT'S NOT EASTER, but....

I've really been enjoying making these large eggs!

They're quite time consuming and it can be a challenge not to let such a large bead crack while applying the flowers, but so far so good...

I'd keep these if I knew how to make jewelry.

They'd be nice to just fondle while their around your neck.

(I hate saying "fondle"-it sounds so lascivious...okay, forget that I just said "fondle" and "lascivious"-I'm all flustered now....)

I WISH...

....that I could create flowers in glass

that look like this!

*Big Sigh*

THE DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT

Cowboy had a Geriatric Assessment at the Doctor's Office today but his eyesight isn't want it used to be...

...so Winston had to drive him.

He just got his license.

LOOK AT THOSE EYES....

We like to call him

"Cockeyed Johnson"

...but he prefers Winston. He's very sensitive & doesn't

find the name-calling the least bit amusing.

I AM NOW OFFERING FREE SHIPPING

TO THE UNITED STATES!

INTERNATIONAL BUYERS-

Your INITIAL shipping price will remail $5.40 BUT, as always, I will refund the difference if the actual shipping price is lower (and it usually is-except for Australia-sorry Australia...lots of cash to mail to you!)

Milk Bone Dog Biscuits...

...they're not just for dogs anymore!...

Brian left one of Cowboy's Milk Bones out in the front yard to see who would take it (men...oy vey!) and Mr. Squirrel decided to partake (since, obviously, his feeder was EMPTY!)...

FREE BEAD WINNER!

Julie Vallejo-the Queen of Cupcake Glass Beads (I have dubbed her that, not Julie herself!)- (Julie's Blog) read my blog from a few weeks back regarding submitting"inspirational" photos for me to use for bead colors!

Here is one the photos Julie sent to me; the chalk used by a Street Chalk Artist...!

...and below are the little little hearts that I made using the photo as my inspiration!

So, Julie, you get a free pair of Brilynn Beads! You can choose a pair of beads from either my SOLD items or my Currently For Sale Items, take your pick and I will remake a pair for you! And thank you, again, Julie, for sending me those awesome photos! This was fun!

The BIG "Clue" THAT AUTUMN HAS ARRIVED!

We had a cord of wood delivered today-the first tell tail sign that the cold weather has arrived!

Brian was excited to tell me that it was being delivered this morning and that it was OAK rather than Pine (or another type of wood we usually get) because Oak burns a lot longer. My first thought was "Ohhh, no...poor Oak Trees!" I have a soft spot in my heart for Oak Trees as there were two 200+ year old Oaks in the front and in the back of the house that I spent most of my childhood in. They are so old and majestic and it would have broken my heart to see them chopped down and have a similar dorky family use it for firewood....

"One can enjoy a wood fire worthily only when he warms his thoughts by it as well as his hands and feet" -Odell Shephard

UPDATE: I was told by Brian, after he found me sprawled across the pile of Oak, weeping, that this particular Oak is 1) NOT the same type of Oak that I had at my childhood home, and 2) this tree was not cut down- it had already fallen due to a wind storm we had here in Oregon. He handed me a tissue, wiped the bark off my clothes, and we went inside.