Arizona

The Gem And Mineral Show In Quartzsite

If you ever get a chance to go to a gem and mineral show, you need to go. I have heard about them from my in-laws, because they are both jewelry crafters. My father-in-love even went to a school to learn silver smithing. They both make some really nice jewelry, and they are the ones who inspired me to give it a try. They used to go to Quartzsite in the winter and go to the gem shows to buy supplies for their craft.

Last week I got my chance to go to my first gem show. There was everything imaginable: rocks, gems, pearls, wire, jewelry findings. There were also other crafts such as quilters, metal work, leather handbags, and stuff like that, but we were there for the jewelry stuff.

On Thursday, my friend Gaelyn from Geogypsy called to ask if I was planning to go to the show. I said I was, so she came and spent the night on my sofa so we could head out early and get a good parking spot. We met Gaelyn at the North Rim this summer, where she worked as an Interpretive Ranger and lived across the road from us in the employee campground. Our paths didn’t cross much because she had a weird schedule and our days off weren’t the same. But about a week or so before we left, she came over for dinner one night and we really enjoyed her company. We were delighted to have her as a guest.

On Friday morning, Gaelyn, Lynda, Charlie, and I got up before dawn, and took off for “Q”. We got a primo parking spot and started looking at all the stuff. This show is huge. As in blocks and blocks of vendors, on both sides of the road.

One vendor had these awesome fossils.

Another had gigantic crystals. These are quartz. I love these but really have no where to put them so I only took pictures.

This is called desert rose. It is gorgeous!

The show was out in the desert at Tyson Wells. Look at that big ol saguaro cactus:

Oh My God! Look at all those beads! How do you chose just a few????

Then of course you have to have wire to make things with. We got silver and copper.

Another bead store. I got some nice Swarovsky crystals here, and some copper beads.

We walked around that show in the desert for 6 hours! We were all tired and dusty, and hungry. Here we are at lunch: Me in the pink sweatshirt, Lynda next to me, Charlie across the table, and Gaelyn beside Charlie. FabGrandpa had a cold and didn’t feel good, so he stayed at home. (better for me, to be able to buy what I wanted, hahahaha.)

And I was so excited when I got home that I made this necklace first. Yes, I got the idea from a magazine, but I did intrepret in a different way.

It was a great day. I had a lot of fun with my friends, and bought a lot of supplies to be able to make some pretty things. And we are going to another one next week. I can hardly wait!

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I’m Getting Ahead Of Myself But I Gotta Show You This!

Karen · 8 Comments

I want to tell you about my visit from Gaelyn from Geogypsy, and how we went to the gem and mineral show in Quartzsite, but I am just too excited about the stuff we Lynda and I have been making that I am jumping ahead to show you:

I love pink things, and this here necklace is pink. It is made with rose quartz and glass and crystal beads. It turned out really good, better than I thought it would.

(click on the pictures to see them better)

This one is made with Chinese turquoise nuggets. I like to take old things apart and use the parts in new pieces, so the chain used in this necklace came from a junkstore find. It looks really good, too.

A few years ago, my mother-in-love, Nana, gave me some lessons in wire wrapping, (Thank you, Nana!) but I have not done much of it until now. I made the bracelet below with the green beads, then Lynda made the one with the purple beads. Mine turned out pretty good, except that the beads I used were too big so it made the overall bracelet too big. We are going to a wire wrapping class next week to learn how to do some other things, and we can hardly wait to go!

I bought these 18mm turquoise beads at the show, because I had an idea for a necklace in my head (yeah, that happens too much). I spent today making all those little curly links for a chain, then Lynda showed me how to make jump links, which is a pretty handy thing to know. I have been making each one separate, which is a major pain in the arse! But look how easy it is here:

And here you can see a little bit of the chain and how the beads look with it. And I put that tape measure in there so you see how big the beads are. It is going to be awesome!

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Sunset In The Desert

Karen · 4 Comments

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A Drive To Wickenburg

Karen · 2 Comments

We had to drive over to Wickenburg the other day to pick up a prescription for FabGrandpa’s thyroid meds. It is about a 75 mile drive with some fantastic scenery along the way.

I loved this sign, out in the middle of nowhere, for a now defunct business:

In one of the tiny towns on the way, Aguila, Arizona, there was a flea market on the side of the road. We stopped to take a look. There was a produce vendor there with these great peppers:

Red, yellow, and orange bell peppers. All the peppers on a plate, one dollar:

Habaneros

Dried chilis:

More dried chilis:

And MORE dried chilis:

No wonder that southwestern food is so hot!

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Lake Havasu City

Karen · 11 Comments

We left Parker and Parker Dam, and drove on up to Lake Havasu City. Our first stop in Lake Havasu City was at Basha, a grocery store, to pick up a few supplies to take home, and get some lunch. We all got some Chinese take out and ate it right there in the cafe. On the way out, we saw this:

That’s not something you see every day! They also had covered parking in the parking lot there, which is something I have never seen before. Of course, it does get really hot there in the summer, so I am sure that is why they have it.

I did not realize that Lake Havasu City is where they moved London Bridge! We drove over the bridge, then turned around and drove back over.

We were waiting for our friends, Terri and Rob, to call us and tell us where to meet them, so we went to Hastings, a book store, and hung around for a while. When they called us, the place where they wanted us to meet them was just on the other side of London Bridge. So, we drove over again.

Barley Brothers Brewery was the place. They make a coffee beer that FabGrandpa loves! He says it is just the right combination of caffeine and alcohol. See how dark that beer is? We ordered lunch and drinks, and had a wonderful time visiting with our friends.

I ordered the Grilled Salmon Cobb Salad. It was delish!

Lynda and Charlie ordered the nachos. They said it was very good, too.

We had such a good time with our friends. Here we all are, FabGrandpa, Rob, and Terri on the left; Charlie, Lynda, and me on the right. And you can see London Bridge right out the window.

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Lake Havasu City

Karen · 6 Comments

On Saturday, we drove up to Lake Havasu City. Wow! The drive up took about 2 hours, and the scenery was gorgeous. One thing I have found about Arizona, is that the scenery looks different around every bend in the road.

The first place we stopped was Parker Dam, in Parker, Arizona:

They say the Colorado River is the damed-est river in the United States!

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Going to Quartzsite

Karen · 5 Comments

Some years ago when I first met my mother and father in-law, they went “out west” every year for a few months in the winter. They were the first ones who told me about Quartzsite, and all the fun they had out there, camping in the desert with their friends, and going to the gem and mineral shows, and the flea markets. I was hooked! Yes, Poppa, it’s y’alls fault!

So, on Friday, I got to go there myself for the first time. I was like a kid on sugar filled kool-aid, I was that excited.

We saw this 1963 Cushman motorcycle at the flea market there. FabGrandpa told me all about how his dad used to work on them at his second job, after he got off work at the Navy.

Wow, it still works, and had the original paint, and they only want $4,000.00 for it. What a great deal.

The flea market had lots of neat stuff. I bought some vintage skeleton keys, and here is what I did with them:

(Click on the pictures to go to my Etsy store)

But the best part was going to the bead and rock stores. Lynda and I had such a good time in there. I bought a bunch of stuff, so did she, and we have been spending all our free time in the cargo trailer, I mean Girlie Playhouse, making stuff:

This one is made with polished rocks and glass beads. I have put a lot of new things up in my Etsy store today, go take a look.

We only went for a few hours, but we have plans to go back soon. My head is spinning with ideas for new stuff.

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The Girls Workshop

Karen · 8 Comments

(Lynda at her jewelry workbench)

Lynda and Charlie have a cargo trailer that they pull behind their motor home. While they are traveling, they drive their car up into the trailer, and pack up their crafting tools. When they park somewhere, the car comes out, and they set up Lynda’s workshop, where she makes jewelry out of silverware and wire wrapping. She’s pretty good at it. Charlie makes fountains and other stuff.

(My sewing table)

Today, we got to work, well, they did mostly, of setting up the workshop. They let me put up my sewing machine and sewing stuff on the other wall. I am so excited about this set-up! Now, Lynda and I can sit out there, in our girlie play-house, and make our crafty stuff, and just have a good old time!

After we got it all set up, I made another Wait Book. This one has is made from a Noah’s Ark print fabric with solid brown. It’ll be for sale in my Etsy store .

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