Monkey-palooza!

OK, I know I was going to do this last weekend, but we were super busy! So by popular demand, I present a buttload of Little Nugget pics! Let the obnoxious cuteness begin!

Here she displays her cat-like ability to squat in very small, confined places without hollering "Oh! My knees!!!" Amazing.

She's a big climber. Did I mention that? It's true. Not content with being safely grounded. Nope. Determined to get a concussion before the age of two, that one. I had to put that sweet dollhouse away for a later date because she kept trying to get inside and then would get madder than a hornet when she'd get stuck. It was kind of funny, actually. Anyhoo...

These were taken on our staycation day at Powell Gardens. It was gorgeous! Here Hubby Nugget and Babygirl are posing by the water garden.

Taking a break in the shade with Hubby Nugget, Monkey , G.G., Papa, Mamaw and Dapaw! That was a beautiful arbor covered in Chinese wisteria, situated next to a lake full of giant snails and snakes. Some of us were more stressed about that fact than others.

So of course we let the Little Nugget out of her stroller to run around the dock!

Once the Genie was out of the bottle, there was no getting her contained. Note the "No Entrance Beyond This Point" sign. Yes, our child is a heathen. Sigh. We prefer to think of her as "spirited". We will be putting her in tumbling classes soon. Mark my words. We have to do something to channel all that "energy".

I finally got my lame ass to get that pool out for her (on Labor Day weekend, I know, at least I got it out!). She was a little unsure about it at first.

So she disguised herself as a starfish and snuck up on it. Very stealthy. Note the limestone boulders at the upper left corner. They are falling out of our trailer, broken earlier that day by said boulders. But we made it home with our rocks!!! Good times!

Once Daddy started splashing her, the Monkey thought the pool was awesome!

The water was a little chilly, but she didn't mind too much.

She showed the sun some lovin' by giving it a big kiss.

The Bug appreciated the convenience of having a water fountain in the middle of the yard. Said Hubby Nugget: "This goes against every environmental bone in my body." Yep.

After a couple of minutes, the Little Nugget decided that rocks were missing from this playtime scenario. She went to fetch some from the site of the future Nuggetworld yard feature.

The girl likes her rocks!

Her love of rocks is seconded only by her love of flowers. She attempted to "pick" some for the festivities.

In a picking mood, she continued on to the tomato patch where she procured some "appos" for our dinner. Note: all tomatoes are apples in her eyes, and she will tell you about it if you try to convince her otherwise.

I missed out on an awesome photo op of the Babygirl snuggling with a tomato later that evening, so when she snuggled with a pickle a few days later, I couldn't pass that up. She literally asked for a pickle, then climbed up on my lap to snuggle before bedtime. She took that pickle to bed, too. It was promptly retrieved once she was out. I really have nothing to say about that. Other than it strikes me as odd. Pretty funny, though. What a sweet Babygirl!!!

All for now,

Nugget

One Step Closer to World Domination...

...one piece of jewelry at a time! As pledged to you last weekend, I completed the challenge to myself to make some jewelry. Since I don't have a dedicated spot to work in, I decided to hold off on getting out my torch and instead worked with beads. Note the sweet organizer I mentioned in the previous post, lower left, black. It's actually made for scrapbooking, but served my purpose very well indeed. Got it at Michaels, clearance. FYI. Anyhoo, I set up shop on the kitchen table, and Hubby Nugget distracted the Little Nugget with the promise of outdoor play so that I could have some "alone time" with my jewelry toys. But the Babygirl knew Mommy was up to something cool and forbidden, so she insisted on coming back inside where she could be of assistance. She's very helpful that way.

In this photo, the Little Nugget is holding on to Mommy's fabulous Craftmates bead storage containers. Mommy bought them because the compartments lock to keep the contents safely ensconced in their plastic goodness. It works very well. Except when Sweet Babygirls throw them on the floor with all their might. Three times in one afternoon. From that point on, I elected to embark on the jewelry adventure whilst the Little Nugget napped quietly in her bedroom. It was really better for everyone that way.

So here's the net result of my jewelry production: behold!
















On the top is an eyeglass chain I made for the reading glasses I need because I'm friggin' OLD. So might as well make something snazzy to dress them up, I say. Glass beads and Swarovski's on that one. Got a little experimental with the photography, too. Glamour shot!

On the bottom is the first piece produced, a bracelet of citrine, pearls, mother of pearl, river stone, dichroic glass and swarovski crystals. I don't usually work in shades of yellow, so this was fun. I found out how rusty I was, too. Had to do one of the strands several times before I got the hang of the knotting again.

This sweet little bracelet was made just for the Little Nugget, who is enthusiastically learning her colors and is rather fond of wearing jewelry (good girl!!!). It is made of vintage and non-vintage glass beads I had on hand, strung on memory wire, nice and indestructible for a highly spirited toddler.

So today at work, I (allegedly--I was working!) saw that I had a comment on my last post from none other than Hazel Wheaton, the editor of Art Jewelry magazine--can I just say that I majorly geeked out in my chair, jumped up and down like the uber-dork that I am. Her words of encouragement meant a lot and will go a long way to kept the inspiration alive. I plan to continue making jewelry regularly, not just on holiday weekends. It shouldn't be a luxury, I enjoy it too much to deny that to myself.

Jewelrynugget out!