Winter Surprise

Last Thursday, snow was predicted for our area of SW Virginia.  It was a pretty sure thing and the accumulation guesses varied from 4" to 12".  Well we did indeed get snow and when it stopped around 10 a.m. we had 10 inches.  Okay, that was not too bad.  Then it began to snow again after noon.  And it snowed hard - for hours!  In the end we got 16 inches and were still digging out yesterday (Sunday).  It was getting late in the day so it is a little dark in the pictures.


 

Showing the 16 inches on the yardstick.



Our Blue Spruce that looks so regal covered in snow.

Daughter and my hubby trying to dig us out.

My daughter was visiting and made good use of the snow shovel.  I have pulled a muscle in my back and was glad she was here to help (of course, I got comments about my timing of the bad back).  My husband likes to get his tractor out and clear the drive and even goes a way down the road. 

So even though it is pretty, it is also cold.  I really don't need to see anymore this winter.  But the weather forecast shows that we will add another inch or so of snow on Monday night.  Aren't we lucky?  No.  But then the temperatures are going to climb to 60 on Wednesday.  Isn't this crazy?  Maybe all the snow will melt quickly which would suit me fine. 

Staying inside to create,
Carol

New Studio Challenge

If you are looking for my Grow Your Blog post, please go HERE.  I hope you have been enjoying the blog party as much as I am.  I am still working my way through and it will take me a while longer. 

Another project I am working on is a challenge by Sharyl of Sharyl's Jewelry and Reflections.  Sharyl calls it the "pick up your beads, clean off your worktable, so you can design something beautiful" challenge!

So it is time to get to work on organizing and finding a place for everything.  I had a sunny day and was able to snap some "before" pictures.  It remains to be seen how many of those I will share. 

Here is one picture of my torch area.  There is glass everywhere though it all has a place to be.  Somehow when I am working, I think I may need the exact colors to make more (which is sometimes true), but then I don't seem to get back to put them away when done.  Then the next batch piles on top and so on.....  This may be a good place to start. 

My desk for making jewelry is really another story.  Some things do have a place but I really haven't figured out a way to store my own lampwork beads so that I can still see them.  I like to have them sorted by color and size on mandrels but that ends up taking a lot of the space on the desktop. 

 I am wondering if I can find some plastic cases to set the mandrels in that can be seen through so I can pull by color.  The mandrels are about 9 inches long.  Any ideas?

Luckily, I do have a "new-to-me" jeweler's bench for metal work.  I need a place devoted to taking pictures that doesn't have to be disassembled after each use.  And a packing and mailing section would be nice, and a place for the computer, and ....  Oh my!  Better get to work!

Off to clean and then create,

Carol