Spring's the Thing

This Saturday, I will be participating in a Spring Craft Event at a place called "Springs".  How appropriate.  I have been busy culling some of my inventory and replacing some of my stuff with new items.  One of the pieces is this:

I was originally going to use these beads to accompany a much larger focal bead that I had made.  That focal bead is about four inches long and I decided that the whole thing might be too heavy, so I split it into two items...this combination of it is in very 'springy' colors, n'est-ce pas?

The larger focal bead still has to be worked into a suitable setting.  But here it is as just a bead itself:  You might be able to see some of the elements I've included in it.  First, I did a zentangle drawing, made a photocopy of it, and then incorporated it into the bottom part of this bead by transferring it onto some green shimmery clay.  This bead took quite a while to make.  The layering, the backfilling, sanding and buffing seem to be unending jobs.

I still haven't decided how it will be accommodated into a larger neckpiece, but hopefully between now and Saturday I will have a brainstorm and it will turn out. 

I have finished getting all my buttons onto cards, and am just about done getting all my inventory sorted out.  I am short on a few types of items, but I am sure there will be enough. 

I do have to mention one not soooo positive thing.  The new blogger system isn't completely foolproof...Last Sunday when I posted about my buttons, I was in a hurry and didn't get to write all I wanted to.  A few hours later, when I went to edit the button entry, I made a lengthy report about the acknowledgment of some of the contributors to my buttons.  A few of the cane pieces were from the cane swap that I participated in when I was in Arizona, and I wanted to get that into that particular post.  Well, after an hour of typing, searching, naming and identifying, I lost that whole piece of work and can't retrieve it anywhere.  It is somewhere in cyberspace...So to my Arizona Polymer Clay Guild friends whose cane slices are in some of those buttons, I apologize for not including your name by the particular buttons.  I am sure you know who you are.  Could you please comment and say which one of you contributed which part to those buttons?  With my very busy schedule this week (I am teaching every single day, at least half time) I just won't be able to get the names and reposting done on that blog. 

Yesterday, in a grade 6 class, a girl was working on a report she had made for her World War II Museum assignment.  She had been working very diligently on a particular program on her laptop, and came to me almost in tears near the end of the period because she couldn't retrieve her work.  I know exactly how she felt after spending so much time creating an entry that just 'disappears' due to a malfunction of some program...I hope we can both learn from those experiences.  There are still things to be said about having stuff..."in writing"...  It's a hard thing, but the expression, 'just suck it up' is front and center in my mind right now.

Now, it's back to the grind.  I have two hours before I have to leave for my teaching assignment.  In that time, I hope to accomplish great things.  Wish me luck!