Welcome to GemsandKnots' Blog!

Miniature Christmas Village Display with Train 2011

It's the most wonderful time...of the year!!! We have our 2011 Christmas videos up on youtube now! Actually, we did two this year: one at dusk and one day-time. Last year's video now has over 13,000 views! Woohoo! Hope you enjoy!  

 

The Power of Blogging

If you've checked in to see what I'm "up" to from time to time, you know that I'm not much of a blogger. I know...I know...it's really important for business, etc., etc. Welllllll..... I think this may help convince me. One of our pretty lucite flower bead mixes was featured on a blog...which brought us traffic!!! Woohooo!!! If you're into beading and/or jewelry design, you're going to want to check it out. Great blog!

ABeadaDayBlog

  

Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum!

I'll tell y'all right up front that I don't know if the butterfly bead you see in Jack Sparrow's OST "zombie finger" bandana dangle was based on one we sell...or not.... But we've sure found some interesting clues!

I've been a fan of Johnny Depp since his first film. I've enjoyed so many of his characters, from Edward Scissorshands to Mort Rainey to Don Juan to Sweeney Todd to..... Well you name the character he's done where he hasn't been brilliant and I'll tell you that character doesn't exist!

So many actors get in front of a camera and...well they just play themselves. Perhaps with a little embellishment here and there but, basically, they're playing themselves. Not JD. Nope. This man reminds us all of what an actor is supposed to do.

You don't watch one of his films and think, "Oh, that's Johnny Depp playing..." Instead, you watch the film, you become totally immersed in his character and the story....and somewhere in there you might think, "Oh, yeah. That's Johnny Depp."

Like many JD fans, though, I think my all-time favorite character is Captain Jack Sparrow. It's my understanding that Disney was less than thrilled with his interpretation at first. Ummm....that was three POTCs ago with number four soon to hit theatres. (Pssst! May 20th! Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides!) So I would imagine that Disney long ago stopped complaining. (Heehee) Don't reckon Disney's complaining much these days. :-)

Soooooo how does all of that relate to one of our beads? Wellllllll..... It goes like this. Last year, one of our little beads starting flying off our shelves. I always thought it was a pretty bead but it wasn't one of our best sellers. Sooo...hmmmm....I thought. Why is the bead all of a sudden so dang popular?

An individual in the UK bought a bunch. Then, an individual who works for a company that does work for Disney bought a bunch more. (Note: They are NOT Disney...but they do work for 'em...such as movie props, theme park costumes and props, etc. Yes! Really!)

Then an individual in Hawaii.... On and on.

Have I mentioned that in addition to JD, I'm a big fan of "who dunnits"?

So this amateur gumshoe started pokin' around.

For the sake of a shorter story, I'll leave out more customers, more "Ah ha's!", and other interesting things.... but what I discovered was that serious Sparrow impersonators, found on Keep to the Code and wikispaces sites, felt that our humble little bead was the "basis" for the butterfly bead you will see in Jack Sparrow's OST (On Stranger Tides) bandana dangle.

These Sparrows especially like our GK8387. (See photo below.) I'll leave it for you to decide.

Thank you, Janty, Undead Monkey,  MojoTurbo, Rockstarpirate90, LousiestImpersonator, and others for all the fun! Can't wait 'til May 20th!!!

 

 
 

SPCA Dogs Like Blue!

Hey y'all! I'm obviously not the best blogger on the planet...but I haven't totally given up! Just a quickie this a.m. One of my fellow SPCA volunteers took a photo of me last month, holding one of 38 confiscated puppies. I just posted it on my facebook page...got to thinking about our blue shirts and how dogs see. They definitely recognize our blue shirts!

Thought you might find this article interesting and maybe enjoy my photo. :-)

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/200810/can-dogs-see-colors

 

Is it Halloween yet?!?

Are you ready for Christmas? It's almost here!

I've admired the little Christmas village displays (with train of course) for as long as I can remember. Last year, I got one. We were so proud of it. Now...we look at our photos and chuckle. My Christmas gift this year from hubby was a custom-built base with two tunnels, mountains, a trestle bridge, about twice the track, and everything wired underneath.

Most people spend years and years collecting pieces and building their displays. Well, I'm 56 so I thought I'd better "fast track" mine. I had so much fun looking for "retired" pieces on eBay. I created a photo album with lots of closeups on our facebook fan page and also posted a video on youtube. Hope you enjoy! (Pssst! They have a Halloween version of this stuff too. It's called "Spooky Town." Oh my am I ever in trouble! LOL!)

http://www.facebook.com/gemsandknots

If you have a warm home, be thankful. If you have enough food, be thankful. If you have the love of others, be thankful. Please remember our homeless critters especially during the holiday season. Adopt. If you cannot adopt, please donate. If you cannot donate money, please volunteer. EVERYbody has a few "extra" hours a week to help make life a little better for those who cannot speak for themselves.

A Shelter Dog's Poem(unknown author)

Once upon a time, you see,
There was this little pup
For reasons unbeknownst to me,
His family gave him up
Maybe it was chewing
Everything that he could find
Maybe they were busy and
Just didn't have the time
They took him to the shelter
And they just left him there
Outside, alone, in the cage
Shivering and scared
Even though they knew inside
If he went through those doors
He may never have the chance
To find a home like yours
He sat there crying silently
Wondering what he did
That was so bad that they just
Had to leave him like they did
However fate was smiling
On that little pup that day
Because a lady saw him
And she whisked him right away
He got a second chance at life
That others may have not
And now he's in a loving home
With everything he wants
Every day he gets that love
That he was looking for
And silently is thankful for when
She walked through that door
Others may not have this chance
So open up your heart
And adopt a shelter dog to take
And give a brand new start

Way to go Toledo, Ohio!!!!! (Home for us!) http://animals.change.org/blog/view/toledo_gets_it_right_on_dangerous_dogs

When I've got a little money to "spare"...I love to collect lampwork glass beads and little decorative sculptures. Many years ago, I got to know Roger Child, a glass artist who creates some of the coolest beads, marbles, and sculptures you've ever seen. Here's a video Roger created of him making hummingbird beads. Enjoy! Oh! If you want to see more of Roger's work, you can visit him at http://www.glassroger.etsy.com. :-)

Well we went to HHN XX last night...not so sure we conquered. LOL! Never saw so many teens in one place in my life. Didn't know about the no-school for Orange County thing today. Reminder: we're the old farts...56/63 and we went to the 1st HHN. We did the "Early Scream" upgrade so we were first group in line for HHN houses which opened at 5:45. (General admission HHN started at 6:30.) We saw three houses. Other guests found me entertaining...when a scareactor would startle me and I'd jump up and down, screaming. Them houses is DARK!

Saw Brian Brushwood's illusionist show (waste of time), grabbed a bite to eat about 8, did a couple of scare zones...then it was 75-minute wait times for houses so we didn't do anymore. We could have done more houses w/o the break...something we figured would be the case when we took our break. Getting there and doing all eight houses with no break...definitely a young person's game! Somewhere in there we went on the Jaws' ride (after dark). That was a lot of fun. Got soaked on my left side tho and had to walk around "squishy" the rest of the night. (I could have wrung the water out of my jeans...THAT kind of soaked.)

Almost didn't do Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween show because of all the negative comments on HHN's FB page. (People who go every year commenting that it was "lame" this year.) It was SO much fun!! We loved it! (Reminder: We're old farts and we have no previous years to compare to.) We walked in about 8:50 for the 9:00 show. Place was packed but we still had pretty good seats.

Beause we went early, we also saw the Beetlejuice show (last one at 4:00) which was memory lane for us. First HHN had a Beetlejuice show. We liked Zombie Gras and Esqueleto Muerte best for scare zones. Did Saws n' Steam, back and forth a couple of times, which was also fun. Didn't remember them using real gasoline before! (Jim kept reassuring me the saws didn't have any chains but you couldn't prove it by me...too dark.) Fear Revealed was beyond lame...the character, the whole thing. (What were you thinkin', Universal?!? This was your 20th HHN anniversary!)

We were going to stay later but about 10:30, we'd had enough of the crowd, teens, and stale beer (Reminder: We're old farts and had a 2-hour drive home.) so we headed out. Glad we got to go but sure wish we'd gone another time on a real "school night" when it wouldn't have been so unbelievably crowded.

P.S. Loved Jack the Clown...but didn't manage to get a photo of him. Maybe when we go for HHN XXX. *grin*