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Now that the reality has sunk in I am giddy with excitement at the thought of spending a week in the Caribbean with my sweetie! The past two years we've taken some of my family along but this time (like the first) it's just us. No one to answer to. We are planning to have little to no plans other than morning sunrises, long days at the beach, a few hot dates and moonlight walks by the sea. We always take a day and ferry over to la Isla Mujeres. We will do that again this year. But other than that we just want to relax.
I am already dreaming of turquoise skies, aquamarine water, and white sand beaches. I can feel the hot sun warm my skin and the cool sea breeze give me goosebumps. I can taste the colorful cuisine and hear the waves lullaby me to sleep. In a way, vacations like this are pure torture. You go for a week of bliss and then return to sullen gray skies, brown everything, and dirty snow banks. Not to mention daily highs in the single digits. However, I am grateful to have had these opportunities and cannot wait to fall in love with the Caribbean all over again.
My new project/challenge: handmade silver cabochons. Rings, cuffs, earrings, studs, pendants...I can't wait to really focus on doing all of this!
I should be sleeping...but no, I am blogging. Huh? I thought I'd just show off some of what's new in my etsy shop. I've been listing all night and have lots left to do. Plus a lot of new jewelry yet to photograph and edit. And even more yet to make! Now if I can just avoid all of lifes distractions and spend some time in the studio.
I don't think I have kept my love of paisley a secret. I've got a whole bunch of paisley necklaces in the works. I expect there will be some paisley cuffs and rings in the near future. And possibly some earrings, we'll see.
As much as I LOVE my engagement and wedding rings, I have been itching to create a new rustically wonderful wedding set. I made time to play around in the studio today and created these rings. They turned out better than I hoped they would! And they have sentimental value. The three large gold balls were made out of my promise ring that Mike gave me while we were dating. It was a pretty little thing but the prongs which held the opal kept breaking and we gave up on having it repaired (this was before my jewelry making/repairing days of course). Ironically enough, the last time it broke was the morning after our wedding. I suppose that was appropriate since his "promise" was kept at that point : ) Anyway, the band has been sitting, stripped of it's stones, in a baggie in my supplies for years. I am glad to have finally done something with it. The three gold balls go with the tradition of representing our past, present, and future.
We have enjoyed a relatively relaxing weekend (finally). Days like today are numbered; it was sunny and somewhat warm so we took Amos to our local nature center to hike and explore. We packed a picnic, it was lots of fun. We decided to be adventurous and do a little off-trail exploring. We hiked, well, really we slid most of the way, down a steep hill down to a ravine that leads to the St. Croix river. Even Amos, who has the advantage of having 4 legs had a bit of a hard time making it down the hill. But we all made it in one piece. However, shortly after we got home I realized that one of my favorite bracelets was missing from my wrist. It most likely fell off while I was trying not to tumble down the hill. We're going to go look for it sometime this week. Hopefully the rain/snow we're supposed to get can hold off.
What a day! I finished up a bunch of jewelry for one of the galleries today. I am really looking forward to delivering it tomorrow.
This image is a bit blurry, but you get the idea. This is all going to Seasons on St Croix Gallery tomorrow in Hudson, WI.
And here's the after, now my studio:
Ta Da!
I have lots of space for working now with all of my stones/supplies in easy reach. I still need to organize all of my stuff on the shelves above my tables. And I need some lighting. Ikea has great lighting solutions, I can't wait to go.
Again, I am in need of some lighting. My bench is a mess from my projects today. I made a couple of orders I received yesterday. I also played around with some new supplies. I turned an old plain hammered band into a rustic masterpiece! Well, maybe "masterpiece" is stretching it a little, but I do like the ring WAY more now. We'll see how long that love lasts. I tire of some things easily. It's in the tumbler at the moment...I'll see if it's shiny enough to take out...hold on a sec...
Good enough for now. I really like this ring! Well, I've gotta get going. Have a good night!
This October has been unseasonably rainy, snowy and cold. I actually don't mind, this time of year I'm ready for sweaters and thick socks. However, it does make it hard when you have a puppy who doesn't like it when it's cold and wet. Some days it's like pulling teeth to get him to go potty!
I am finally finished with all the custom orders from my sister's jewelry party a couple weeks ago. This is the last piece, it's all packaged up and ready to go to the post office. Now I can focus on making a bunch of jewelry for the galleries before the 30th. This has been my biggest month for sales yet for my little business!!! I am so excited about that, and to think it's only October. We still have all of the Holiday shopping yet to come. My fingers are crossed for a strong finish to the year.
I had some questionable reconstituted metal clay and decided to see how far I could push it. I got a lovely paisley stamp while in Chicago and made this HUGE pendant out of a part of it. The clay fired up good and strong so now I have to figure out what to do with this sucker! It's 2" by 1-1/2" and I think I want it to be a pendant. I considered making it into a cuff, but I'm not in love with that idea. I LOVE PAISLEY and am very excited to play around with some designs. I am drawing blank today so it'll just have to sit on my bench as is until lightening strikes. Any ideas???
I don't work Fridays (whoohoo!) so this morning I took Amos to walk around Carpenter's Nature Center. I have fond memories of taking field trips here when I was in grade/middle school. But it was my sister who got me addicted to it as an adult. She comes here to walk around whenever chance allows. It is a beautiful and scenic place as well as a nature research center. I am lucky to live about 5 minutes away! Enjoy the photos!
I love these old, gnarled looking trees. There is a forest of them along one of the grass paths. They remind me of that scene in Wizard of Oz when they are in the apple orchard and the trees come to life. They look like they could be grumpy don't they!
Amos loved his first time at CNC! There was so much for him to sniff out. He was happy to be given a lot of slack to explore. He was very patient with all of my stopping to take pictures.
One of the scenic river overlooks. This is the beautiful St Croix river. If you look close you can see a black thing perched on one of the bare branches. This was a bald eagle, which I assume was patiently waiting for breakfast to come along. I wish I could have gotten a better picture of it.
I am always drawn to pictures of wooded pathways. I love this path at CNC because it is paved yet bumpy. It curves and meanders through the woods. And all of the cracks have bright green moss growing in them.
For some reason I love moss!?! I just think it is beautiful in all of it's shades of green (my favorite color). Someday I am going to have a flagstone pathway that leads from our house to my studio that has tons of moss growing between the stones. Someday...
Moss grows on everything here! Look at the beautiful chartreuse color of this batch.
Another wooded pathway. This one leads down to the St. Croix river. I love how it's covered with fallen leaves.
We are teaching Amos not to pull while on his leash by stopping and turning around (eventually he stops pulling and then we move on). Well, this is what I saw on one of the (many) anti-pulling stops. I thought this was a beautiful scene. A lone little tree glowing bright oragney-red (the pic doesn't do the colors justice of course) among muted fall tones. It made me think of my favorite scripture: "Let your light so shine among men that they may see your good works which glorify your Father which is in Heaven" -Mathew 5:16. This little bush sure is letting it's light so shine!
We finished off our explorations with this group of beautiful trees. I wish the colors reproduced more true, but you get the point.
Hi! I never did put a picture of all my lucky finds at the gem show Monday. Between the new puppy and being sick I haven't had a lot of spare time on my hands. I found these beautiful, GIANT freshwater coin pearls at the show and *drool* I fell in love immediately! I couldn't wait to get one set into something. So this is what I accomplished today between taking puppy out to go potty/play and resting because I'm a bit under the weather.
I have always been a HUGE fan of the night sky. I love love love the moon, especially when it's huge and full glowing in all of its silvery splendid glory. I have spent many a night absolutely mesmerized by the stars and entranced by the moon. I thought these pearls are the perfect tribute to 'her'. They measure about 5/8" in diameter give or take. I have been into large, chunky rings lately so this one is very exciting since pearls (my favorite) don't usually come this large. The beaded sterling bands twinkle around the 'moon' like stars. I LOVE this ring and hope it does well in my shop!
This bracelet is a tribute to the shallows of the Caribbean Sea. Like the moon, I am in love with the Caribbean. The colors are unreal (especially since I have lived in the Mid-West my entire life). The shallows of the Caribbean can be perfectly described as aquamarine. This bracelet is full of aquamarine, aqua beryl, aventurine and freshwater pearls. It's two strands and just the right touch of rustic.
I hope I feel better tomorrow so that I can spend more time out creating things. It sounds like I will have my studio (gardening shed turned studio) sooner than I expected. I've mentioned in past posts that we have been thinking of buying my parents house next summer. Well, unless something freak happens, we have decided that we are going to do it. I need more space to work and Amos needs a better location for his kennel. We'll move him to where my beading/finishing area is in our room. I cannot wait to have a building all to myself where I have all my tools, photo area, and everything else all in one place. Let's hope it's done SOON.
I'd like to introduce you to the newest addition to our little family....meet Amos! We've been looking into getting a boxer for a while now but didn't think it would happen so soon. Mike found an add online yesterday afternoon that was a deal to good not to take advantage of. Amos is 12 weeks old and came with lots of benefits (kennel trained, sleeps through the night, socialized, etc). We picked him up this afternoon and have had a wonderful day together. Enjoy the pictures!
All tuckered out at Petco...how cute is that!?!
Falling asleep in the car. He did such a good job for his first time in the car. He handled it like a pro!
He needed a drink of water before going to his first art fair. He buried his face as far as it would go into the cup to get every last drop, it was adorable! Today was his first time on a leash and he barely started to get the hang of it. He'd start walking with us but as soon as he caught a glimpse of the leash he'd sit right down and just stare at it. Boxers are famous for their intelligence so I'm sure he'll catch on soon. We are assembling his new kennel at the moment and then it's out to go potty and into bed for little Amos!
Hi everyone! Here are pictures of some new jewelry I've been making. Both items are spoken for. The first is a large, chunky turquoise ring. I LOVE IT!!! It is so comfortable, which is surprising since it's so large.
This is a very unique and quite expensive stone. It is called Rock Butte Jasper. I got it at the last gem show and intended to keep it for myself, but like always I fall out of love quickly with such things. My good friends mother saw it a few months ago and laid claim. I set it in a very simple pendant as to not compete with the stone itself. I am very pleased with the turn out!
