Hi All,

     Hope everyone is ready for Christmas.  It's gonna be a quiet one at my house.  Breakfast, Christmas play, and service at church.  Then home to watch Christmas shows on tv.  Will also be doing some Kumihimo, trying new designs and working to get better on my marudai.  I am also trying to write a chart for the many color combinations for the Kongo Gumi, the basic 8-strand braid.  Hopefully I will have that up in 2012.

     I am putting the finishing touches on this spiral ridged set (letting the adhesive set).  The red is actually maroon 1/4" ribbon.  The yellow ridge cord was given to me by a good friend.  Her name is Debra and she is a total wiz with polymer clay.  I'm planning to have her make some pieces for some of my future braids.

     These are some slider pendants I bought from www.Mobile-Boutique.com.  You should check it out.  I will be buying from them a lot in 2012.  They have some really beautiful pieces.  And they all have double holes for creating a 2-strand piece.  They also have some beautiful clasps.  And the prices are great.  Each of these were $3.00 apiece.  Some with the same design but different color stones.

     This is what I did for my first piece using these...  Fortunately I had the green and chocolate satin cord to match the pendant. Sorry you can't really see the colors. It's really pretty. I'll be helping Santa out and getting my own digital zoom camera in January.

     Here's a piece I made using s-lon, 6/0 pink, 8/0 gold, and 11/0 green seedbeads.  I sewed the 11/0 green seedbeads on after the braid was made.  Hope you can see them.

And this was braided using Metallic and Pearlescents Effects DMC Embroidery thread.  Save those broaches and pins.  They do come in handy.  This pin came with a suit I bought for church.  I  also visit a lot of secondhand and antique shops.  You can find some really good bargains.  You can ask neighbors, friends, church members and business associates if they have any old jewelry and pins they no longer want.  If they give them to you, great.  You can offer them a monetary donation or braid them a new piece using some of their jewelry.  Either way, you come out ahead.

Well, I guess this is all for now. So with Kumihimo disk in hand, I wish you a very Merry and Blessed Christmas.  Hope to have more to show you in 2012.