Merry Christmas

- Posted from my iPhone from somewhere other than my desk

Bracelets

Adding to my ready to ship items:

Sterling cuff bracelets.

I'm still working on taking pictures and photographing them.   :-{)

I've also added some pictures to already existing items.  Thanks to my daughter who patiently stood for me this morning.

Ready to Ship

With the upcoming holidays I've been trying to increase my inventory of "ready to ship" items.  Here are a few I've added.

 My flying turquoise heart necklace.  Each is unique and sell out fast.

 Sweet and cottage-y chic amethyst necklace.

 Stunning turquoise statement necklace.  Tobe made the focal and I made the chain.

Genuine turquoise nugget bracelet with two styles of sterling silver chain and a hand made hook/eye clasp.

I hope to increase the inventory of more ready to ship items to help the many dads, boyfriends and husbands who shop late in the season.

Where I've Been

Yes, I've been absent for a long time.  I've been so busy. 

Ironically, my last post was about inspiration and how, for some, the act of doing is more of the inspiration than collecting ideas, pictures, etc.  Well, there has been no time for that. 

I have been truly blessed with an abundance of work.  Here is just a day of it.

Mostly its this ring

but a few others as well.

very little time to make new stuff, but I've forced a little time for this:

and this:

All is well, I'm still around, just working my tail off. 

Inspiration

I read an interesting quote this morning that seemed to make sense and even encourage me  a little.  Here is what it said:

“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who'll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you're sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that's almost never the case.”  - Chuck Close - painter.

 While I think it may be a little harsh (but I guess he can be because of how successful he is) I think this made sense to me mostly because I have not been one of those who has mounds and mounds of sketch pads, inspiration boards, or notebooks filled with "inspirational ideas".  I look through books, take pictures, and read a lot.  I hear of artists who get their inspiration from here or there, nature or architecture and on and on.  I try to do that but I always come up empty and that leaves me feeling less of an "artist" and more of a laborer. While I don't agree, nor would I judge that's for " amateurs", is is encouraging that a successful artist has another process. 

I like the idea of "the best ideas come out of the process" because that is how it works for me.  When I get out and work the ideas come.  I gather stones, look at components, place designs, re-arrange, re-do before something comes together fully.  

I think it's encouraging to know that we all have our processes..some get inspiration, some just do the work.  Its all art. 

Bands...

A load of new detailed silver wire turns into these:

now available in my shop as sets.  They are also going to be available individually; however I haven't gotten around to photographing and listing them yet. 

Buttons...

I hit my vintage button stash this week, picking the prettiest I could find and Voila~... new necklaces. 

You can't tell from the awful photo (I don't know what happened when I uploaded it) but the bottom left button is actually pink..like depression glass.  The one on the bottom right is silvery like mercury glass.  Oooh so pretty. 

I tried to get a good mix in there so we'll see.  I have about five more on my bench I want to set so we'll see how much work I get done on new stuff this week.

Plug for Pinterest Pin..times two.

I'm sharing a couple of desserts with you today since they are small and so similar in ingredients.  Both of these are deeeliissshhuuss!

First, cheesecake stuffed strawberries from here:

They are super easy to make.  The hardest part is the coring of the strawberries.  That took a while.  Also, you might be tempted to double this recipe but be cautious.  They aren't really good the second day if you have ripe strawberries.  The strawberries turn quickly being cut into and stuffed like this. 

They are a perfect little finger food though.  Just pop the whole thing in your mouth and yum.  They are MUCH better than I expected them to be. 

Second, mini desert pies from here:

These are uber fun and yummy  AND unlike the strawberries are still good the next day! 

The cookies were amazing.  I was surprised when the cookies cook they puff up in the mini muffin tin.  BUT, when you take them out of the oven they deflate and make the perfect little tart shell.  Have no fear, it works wonderfully!  I changed the recipe, though, and only topped them with  raspberry, nothing more.  So cute and yummy! 

Definitely try these.  They are really easy, a few time consuming steps (coring strawberries and/or making the cookie shells)  but are so worth it.  DE- LISHUS!

Its not Rings!

I made bracelets today.  A shock, I know!  I've been making an effort to make my shop a little diverse. 

I love lampwork beads, by the way.  They are just so fun!  So many colors, shapes, textures.  These bracelets are perfect for my little collection. 

I have a nice purple blood blister on my finger from missing with the hammer when I was hammering out these links. 

This focal was recycled from a necklace that didn't sell.  I hope  this one does better than the necklace did! 

They are in my shop now, here.

Happy Independence Day!

Crazy Electricity and First World Problems

I love thunderstorms.  They are really one of my favorite things in this world.  I love watching them, hearing them, and being in the middle of them. 

It was during one of these wonderful parties of flashing lights, booming thunder and pounding rain that we got a little surprise.  Lightening struck...right on our house.  CRAAAAAAK!!! doesn't even describe the noise!  It was like someone took two 2x4s and slapped them together right next to my ear!

Immediately our tv went out, the smoke alarms in the house went off and our poor little dog who is afraid of storms went running. 

Funny thing, though, our lights didn't even flicker.  Not one.  Alarm clocks didn't re-set, appliances stayed on, ceiling fans kept going.

After about half an hour I called the cable company to ask if it was an area wide outage or if it was just a localized to our house problem.  Unfortunately it was a localized problem. 

The next thing we started to notice was that our air conditioner wasn't working, and our pool pump was on high.  Oh, and no phones. 

What I've learned in the past few days are that the lower voltage items are most at risk.  Phones (not the line..it's fine and we have an old school with a bell ringer right now!), air conditioner electrical panels and thermostats, cable for tv, HDMI circuits on flat screen tvs, are all more susceptible to lightening strikes than the major electrical systems in a house. 

All in all it will probably total just $1 less than our homeowners deductable.  grr.  But I am blessed.  We had no major damage, we had no fire, we had no injuries.  Just our First World problems. 

Plug for Pinterest Pin

In an effort to keep my blog not just about my business but about me as well I have decided to let ya'll know about new things I've tried from Pinterest.

I don't know how many of you have find Pinterest, but it is a plethera of profound and pronounced projects.  Anything from recipies, patterns, wardrobe ideas, photos, vacation spots, and funny sayings.  I have pinned and pinned and pinned but just recently decieded to try a few things I have pinned.  I will occasionally be giving you a plug for a pin I found pleasantly pleasing.

Okay, enough with the alliteration, we'll start with last night.

I tried this recipe.  

It is fairly simple and, wonder of wonders, I had everything it called for.  Chicken breasts (instead of tenders) creme cheese, black beans and corn (frozen instead of canned...i hate canned corn), and of course Rotel.

Easy and simple.  You just put in all in a crock pot and go, stirring occasinally.

In the end it looked pretty gross, but it was really good.  I served it over rice, but it could have been served with chips (which I meant to get out but forgot.  No one missed them).

The was originally pinned from The Larson Lingo blog you can find here.

So there's my first profound Pinterest plug.  You can fine me on Pinterest here.  I put comments in my pins after I've tried something so you can see some recommendations there also. 

This recipe gets a real plus from me!

(photo and links were used with permission)

Necklaces again.

I was actually successful in making necklaces, two days in a row!  Its because I've started working with PMC (precious metal clay) again.  When I first started making jewelry I made a necklace molded from an antique button as well as a few ring focals all out of PMC.  The pieces were small, fiddly, and really, a pain to work with.

Well, in my never ending way of trying new things I am working with PMC again.  I've found some pretty molds, made some of my own, and have some patterns I'm going to try.

I'm even shopping for a kiln, though it will have to wait until after school starts, tuition has been paid and books purchased.  For now, I'm torch firing which isn't hard, just done one at a time.

I made three of the tree of life necklaces.  I've been wearing one and they are really comfortable and one of those necklaces I could wear all day long.  Not too heavy or hot, which really bugs me this time of year. 

In between filling orders this week I'm hoping to get another one finished.

New Necklaces

I have been thinking of making necklaces; however, no matter how I try I make rings...lots and lots of rings.

So today I made an effort to complete some necklaces.  I made two.

A big moonstone in a crown bezel.

and a oval Prehnite.  A little simpler crown bezel.

Stones!

Soon to be seen in the shop, I hope.  It's been great having my college gal home (only one of two :-(  ) and my other kiddo home but having them home means I have to balance being with them, which is my first priority, and working. 

I got these new stones a couple of weeks ago and still haven't used them.  Prehnite, carnelian, aquamarine, pink sapphire, citrine, blue topaz.  So many ideas being sketched out and formulated, but no time. 

I think I'll just introduce a really nice fall line with these stones.  That'll keep the pressure off for the summer.   I really can't wait, though, to get started.

New "About" Page

Etsy introduced another feature this week.  Its called the "About" page.  We can put our story, pictures of our process, work or even, (eep) ourselves!  Yes, I actually uploaded a picture of myself.  First time, ever!  ah well. 

So, if you're interested you can see a picture of my work area, some works in progress and even me.  Just click the big picture up there or here.  

First garden harvest

My little garden and my little harvest.




- Posted from my iPhone from somewhere other than my desk

New Window!

I wasn't going to bore you with the details of my new window, but I HAD to change the first title on my blog (referring to a wedding).  UGH...  I just learned my daughter is dating her ex-boyfriend who I don't like as he treated her so badly when they broke up....sheesh!    ANYWAY.... enough venting, I'll share some happy thoughts with you. 

I GOT A WINDOW IN MY STUDIO!  Now, you may not think it is such a big deal but, to me it is.  I am one of those who needs sunlight.  If I don't get it on a regular basis I get grouchy, tired, unfit for human contact, etc.  I have an amazing studio my dh made for me in our garage a few years back.  It just needed a window. 

So, this past weekend (the long weekend) he put one in for me.  Yay!  and here it is...  TA DAA!

It lets so much light into the room.  The first time I walked in I asked who left the light on?  ha ha!  I am so happy with it!  So happy thoughts for today!

Do I have a wedding in my future?

No..this was really just to freak my mom out a little (hi, mom).  But I have to wonder...this was what I made today.  It looks like wedding jewelry doesn't it?  Bright silver, delicate blues, a little moonstone.  Maybe I just enjoyed my quiet, peaceful day and my work reflected my mood.

Ah well.

A few little pretties off the bench today.