We got back from Tucson Monday afternoon. I was sad to leave, I was having lots of fun with Joe's mom searching for beads and findings and everything else. Joe's credit card was happy to see me go though I think. I am worn out from this vacation. I need a vacation to recover from this one. When we landed Saturday, we went from the airport to two different gem shows. The boys (Grandpa, Rick, Daddy, and Luke) all went home before we did. Luke was being a fussy butt since he was in his "No one can hold me but mommy or daddy phase" which he eventually got over. I was in shock at the tables upon tables upon tables of beads and sparkles. I've never seen so many beads in my life! Sunday after church we went to another bead show called TEP. The boys went with us and did their own thing. Grandma and I were on a mission to get out Wubbers (tool for beading thats really cool) We even got to meet the lady who invented them and she showed us how they worked, which I have already forgot. Thanks to youtube, I will be able to watch over and over again. We found some more beads there as well. We also got a very detailed instruction on Vicking Knit which is something new in the jewelry world, more detailed than we would have liked. 30 minutes later we both walked away finally. When we found the boys, there were in geode heaven. Joe had picked out some geodes for me to look at and when all was said and done, I think we walked about with about 6.
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| One of the geodes we got |
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| Just a little geode |
But a couple were for other people (later in the week Joe, Grandpa, and Luke went back and got a few more :-) It's all kind of a blur, but I think Grandma and I went to the Double Tree Hotel for To Bead True Blue show. We were all pumped up about this because it was a show dedicated to jewelry making alone. By the time we got there we only had an hour left, so we went in one tent and saw the Parawire people (they make wire in all shades of the rainbow) and met Franchesca and the two other men (who we became close with because we were there every other day buying wire) By the time we were done at that booth, we only had a few minutes left so we walked around some more. I also found an amazing crimp tool that was just invented by this lady. Her company was called Om Tara! It is going to make my life a lot easier. So unfortunately the show was closing and we had to be done for the day. Grandma had to work Monday and Tuesday, so I drug Grandpa and daddy and Luke out back to the bead show. I was so excited for the rest, but ended up being disapointed because the rest of the show was SO expensive. Grandma and I decided that was because they were all American's selling and not Chinese so they were more expensive. Tuesday we went to Chuck E Cheese with Dom, Crystal, Logan, Will, Laura, Stella, Nick, Brenda, and Aurora. It's so funny because Luke out weights all the babies by quite a bit. And they are 18, 16, and 12 months I think. Luke was kind of ho hum about Chuck E Cheese, but we all had a good time anyway.
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| Playing the the monster truck |
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| Luke, Logan, and Stella |
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| Luke and Stella, not sure what Luke is thinking LOL |
Wednesday was a big day for the ladies. After Grandma got off work, we went to the Gem Mall and JOGS both of which were wholesale shows. We ended up going back the the Gem Mall just a few more times :-) I think by far it was out favorite. The parking lot was so big, they had shuttles to pick you up and told you to walk at your own risk. We got a lot of good deals there! JOGS was a little pricey and upper class, but we did happen to find one booth that had crystals for .79 cents a strand and TONS of findings. It was a good find. I think Thursday is when we went to the Holidome. It was also a wholesale show. We didn't really find a whole lot there, so I think we may have went back to the Gem Mall. We probably also visited Franchesca and the parawire boys too. I can't even remember what we did Friday, I think it was Gem Mall and TEP. We found an awesome booth we missed the first time we went there called Kent's Tools. He had the one thing I hadn't been able to find yet and I was super excited about it. Saturday we went to the parawire booth, back to Gem Mall, the back to doubletree hotel where we took classes the rest of the day. We took a class on how to make Resin pendents which was very fun, then we took a class with Diane Whitting, who is a Swarovski crysal embassador, and she taught us how to crochet wire. It was very frustrating at first, but once I caught on I loved it!
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| These are the resin pendants I made |
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| This is the crocheted bracelet, I love it |
Saturday night I had decided I needed to make one more round before I went home, so I think we went to the Gem Mall and got some more stuff. I forgot about ED. He was at the 22nd street show and he had GORGEOUS strands of gemstone beads. We went there twice and became good friends with him. He said thanks to us, he had a good show. Not too sure I wanted to admit that or not! Sunday night was of course the superbowl and we went to Dom and Crystals house for the first half of it. We left at half time so we could hang out with Grandma and Grandpa, pack and make sure Luke got a good nights sleep. He was not happy when we woke him up at 5 the next morning to go to the airport. He screamed the whole way there! But he was good on the plane. He got antsy when we landed a couple times, but he was an angel baby for the most part.
We also got the meet the newest member of the Karasch family; Abby. She's the new corgi. She was the sweetest girl and I would have stole her and brought her home if Joe and his parent's would have let me. I called her gabby abby because she liked to bark at everything! She is also like Jazmine in that she loves to steal socks! We weren't even home yet and Joe's mom texted that she found a pair of my socks!
Luke also got to experience Grandpa's famous bubby baths! He LOVED to take them, we even got him some spongebob bubbles. Grandpa made him very cute hairdo's with the bubbles. Luke even threw a fit once when he had to get out!
Tomorrow the boxes we shipped home are supposed to arrive. I cannot wait! There are 4 and I think the lightest one is 34 pounds! The UPS man is going to HATE me!!
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| Luke helping pack the boxes |
I think this is long enough for now! Sorry if I bored you in the earlier parts about jewelry, but I am so excited!!
