SLOW

I had a real nasty, ugly, knock down type of cold a few weeks ago, and I haven't been the same since. I am better now, just slow... slow at doing everything, just not myself, and the added pressure of Christmas gift shopping, ,making, cooking, baking, just thinking about it, is weighing heavy on me. I am making small progress and hoping I can step it up soon. Anyone else feeling like this? I think I better start taking my vitamins and that is not a joke.

This is something I made over the weekend, a simple piece that I thought works in so many ways with so many things. It felt clean and fresh to me, and I just loved the stone, the green amethyst is beautiful. It clears negativity, promotes self acceptance and love, and strengthens the mind and the will. It is available in my shop if you are interested.

 Hope your week is coming along well and your holiday preparations are progressing smoothly! Thanks for stopping by and visiting, I always appreciate it!

HAPPINESS IS.......

I was happy to find some time to art journal this week!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a great weekend!

HEARTS BEATING

My desire to once again pound and torch and manipulate metal into something uniquely my own  has again taken hold and I have been busy this past week, making these earrings...with a bit of art to share later in the week. Of all the pieces I make, these type of earrings I think are my favorite. There are so many layers of involvement , which means a lot of work, but it means I made something that no one else has, at least not exactly, and that I am happy with. I like the messiness to get to the end, the noisiness, the physicalness, the pounding, the torch, the injury or two, (minor!). I like the shabby and bling together, the stones, the words, the most of the part you can't see, but I hope with all hope, you can feel, the emotion.

Thank you for visiting and listening to my ramblings....I hope I can listen to yours! Hope your week is off to a great start!

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

For months now I have been trying to take Mindy Murphy Lacefield's class "Paint Your Story". Between work, and jewelry, and life, it is taking me forever and a day, but I am enjoying the process and learning many new things about myself, pushing myself in new directions , sometimes uncomfortable. That is good though, because I need to grow in other artistic ways, I need to know what I really like and what I don't. I am always very attracted to work like Mindy's, but have a very hard time expressing myself like that, I am searching for a way to learn to do that. Whether I will always take that path remains to be seen. Right now it is very freeing, fun, and playing! These are a few pieces we are asked to do as prompts to prepare backgrounds for paintings. Some were done on magazine pages, and all were done quickly, like a child, sometimes with fingers. If I had more space in my house , and didn't have to worry about clean up so much, I would do this everyday! These make great collage pages also when torn up! 

Well, what do you think? I am having a blast, and may take this up full time? 

I will share faces another time! Thanks for taking the time to visit! I love and appreciate your time and comments!

NEED

I recently squeezed in a piece of collage....it makes me so happy to do it! I can't really explain it, it feels like it comes straight from my soul, there is not a lot of thinking involved, most of it is very intuitive at this point, it feels very raw and emotional. I have no better words for the process, except again, it makes me feel so good. 

I NEED to do more. I am working on....(in my mind) to do other types of collage, other styles, but it hard to break old habits, so we'll see what happens! 

This is it for now

 

Thanks so much for dropping by , I always appreciate your comments!

 

I AM STILL HERE

Here I am again, trying hard to find the time to blog. I think about it every day, it's just so hard to find the time when you work a full time job. But I'll keep on trying, because I love to visit your blogs when I can! 

Lately I have really been drawn to the more primitive and natural elements in my jewelry, and also trying to incorporate some sort of different type of metal component. So these are some experiments with that. I am liking them. I am never satisfied for long with my creativity and am always searching or something new.

 

For some reason life has been crazy busy and it is taking me longer and longer to make something or get it done......I am now thinking that is called old age, but I am starting to accept it, , kind of, sort of, sometimes, except with the no time for blogging part.

Thanks again for stopping by, and I hope you are finding the time to create, blog, have fun, and enjoy life!

 

JEWELRY AND ART

I am still trying to do better on my blogging but as you can see that is not working out as well as planned! I just can't keep up, but I try. Here is what I have been up to. As I continue to work on new pieces, I have been listing some pieces in the shop, like these...

And then there is the time that I put aside to make art, it makes me feel so good....

 That's what I have been up to! Thanks for stopping by, and taking a peek, I'm off to catch up with what everyone else is doing! Have a great weekend and be creative!

FOUND POETRY

I am diving right into the art! I could not wait one more minute, and I decided to try something new! I came across a post by Marit of Marit's Paper World,  where every Friday she has a Found Poetry Friday blog post.  You can link up your art with found poetry to her blog. I found this concept very interesting, so this is my first piece. She allows everyone to link up all week. Thanks for taking a peek, and now I am off to see what the others have done. It's always great to see the diversity in everyone's work!

SLOWLY

I am back creating and hopefully blogging on a more consistent basis! The past month I have been making jewelry for a local shop and that is finally done....sold a lot, and have a little left for my etsy shop, so I will slowly be restocking. I am looking forward to making some art too....I have missed that a LOT!

I have just listed these in my shop tonight, molten lava solder earrings with labradorite drops. Gotta love those drops. 

Thanks so much for sticking by me and dropping by, I appreciate all of you and your support.

AJE TIME

It's Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge time again!  This time I used a very fun and artsy pair of polymer clay spikes by Staci Louise Smith. I just love them and I am keeping them for myself! My eyes fixed right on them at Bead Fest and I knew I had to have them. I really didn't do too much to them, they are outstanding on their own. I added some of my favorite amber heishi and hung them on my own earwires and wala! Love them! Them cheer me up!




Next up are my own molten lava solder components I made into earrings. I'll be taking these to a local shop soon. I paired them up with some picasso beads and wrapped some labradorite briolettes in sterling.  I always love sterling, and was pretty happy with the way these turned out. Be sure to visit all of the AJE participants, and thanks so much for stopping by!

STILL HERE

I have been lying low and taking it easy. I haven't been feeling my best, but there is only so much lying around I can do, so I am beginning to get up and get going! Here is a recent journal page I made. 

 

I hope you enjoy, and I thank you so much for stopping by!

AJE CHALLENGE

Kristi Bowman recently asked me if I would like to join in on the Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge, and well, I said, YES, I'll give that a shot! You know me, and you know I make a lot of earrings, mostly because I wear a lot of earrings, they are to me what lipstick is to some women! So here goes! 

This first pair just happens to be a gorgeous set of Kristi's copper panels with a great design going on and wonderful iridescence to them. I paired them up with some picasso finish glass and a little raspberry seed bead and called it happy! Oh, I always make my own earwires, I think they add that extra character and the red ball from the copper in this case worked out perfect with the colors!

 Next up is something totally different, but that is usually how my brain works! I used some gorgeous roman glass from beadfest,  more Kristi Bowman goodness with the large cream colored patterned polymer clay spacers, mustard yellow czech glass beads, carnelian rounds, and Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity Beads glass headpins! I love the rustic organic quality of these  earrings, and the earthy color palette. 

So glad you stopped by to see what I've been up to! Be sure to visit Kristi and the other members to see what they came up with.  

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday weekend!

BEADFEST

I attended my first Beadfest this year and I have to say it was the Best EVER! A few things I learned, 

take more MONEY!

schedule more TIME!

and take a CAMERA, if you want to get some photos of the people you got to finally meet!

It was a great time, and wow what a wealth of beads and products, and wonderful people!

This is just a bit of the great loot I got, some of it is already in use and scattered all over!

I wanna go back right now!

STILL MAKING ART

Feeling the need to do some artwork recently drove me to these two journal pages. I will never tire of working with images of woman, using vintage pages, napkins, scraps, and fibers. This piece I used some paint, vintage newspaper, a pretty image of a woman,  napkins,  butterfly image, gesso, and a couple secrets thrown in!  Actually, every time I start one I never really know how they will turn out, and that is what makes them so much fun and so relaxing to me!

This piece I used an original page from an old flea market book I found, a beautiful book, but my feeling is if you can't use it for something, what good is it, so I do tear out pages and use originals, they are so beautiful. I enjoyed stitching around the page in my haphazard way, and I will not bore you with all that it means to me, what matters is what you see and what it means to you! 

I am always thrilled that you took the time to stop by and leave a comment, thank you so much!

UNIVERSAL

I have found the perfect companion to work with when creating necklaces and that is using the components made by Staci Klinger Smith! I recently purchased this polymer clay ring focal, and I have discovered such an ease of working with her designs. It is just one of those things you can't put into words.....it just works for me, and that is a wonderful thing!

 Staci also gifted me with the lovely sea urchin stick.....I found that perfect of course!

This crusty tangerine glass bead is the perfect accent and was gifted to me by the incredible Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity Beads!

I am loving this artful journey  these necklaces are taking me on.

Thanks for joining along !

NATURE COLLAGE

I thought I would share some small nature collages I made recently. I belong to a lovely art group on facebook called The Studio. Any artist can join and participate. It is a very easy going and encouraging community of artists sharing their work, talents and information. The group is run by the fabulous April Cole, and she does an outstanding job of organizing swaps, prompts, and themes to keep your ideas fresh! There is something for everyone. You may want to check it out! So, the theme in July was Nature, so I did find time to do these two collages using some favorite papers, vintage and new,  napkins (oh, how I love napkins, paint, stamps, .........

I really enjoy collage, it has to be my favorite type of art to create.....it constantly challenges me in design and color, and product!  I know these won't be my last!

Thanks so much for stopping by, I always appreciate your visit!

BLOSSOM

 

I'm taking hints from the garden trying to interpret that into my jewelry, and my job is made easy with some of the beautiful artisan pieces made by this incredible jewelry making communit ! I made the etched copper and sterling stitched piece here, but the long lovely rustic polymer clay shard dangling from the bottom was made by Staci Klinger Smith, who works wonders with her polymer clay magic at turning clay into ancient tribal treasures!  She also gifted me with the beautiful tumbled green glass bead....so time worn, soft, and pretty, what gardens are made of.

Another artist that I admire a lot is Kimberly Smith of Numinosity Beads. She makes these incredible "criffles", that teal colored wavy disc that you see in the photo below, that are really beautiful and unique. They lend themselves well to my garden necklace, the wave of the disc resembles the petals of a flower, at least that how my mind might work....today that is......

Thanks for coming on this week's walk with me! I always enjoy and greatly appreciate your visits!

SUMMERTIME

           We are deep into summer and I am trying to enjoy it and steal the moments that I can.

 

 

I am enjoying the colors of the season, they make me happy!  

Of course no week would be complete without making some earrings!

          Crusty goodness with glass headpins made by Kimberly Rogers that I combined with pewter spacers, patterned beads, and picture jasper. I love the melding of patterns and colors, it felt very rythmic to me.

How was your weekend?

Here is wishing you a great week!

I LOVE METAL

              

             

            As is par for the course, I tend to fall into a rut with my style of jewelry making, or a certain train of thought, always choosing the same colors, doing the same things over and over, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah, at least that is how I feel. That feeling starts to nag at my soul terribly until I cannot stand it and I have to do something about it! For a few weeks I have been mulling over the idea of playing with metal again, which for me, is like going back to my roots, or the very beginning of my jewelry making, except I didn't know a lot then. I only know a little more now. It is just so refreshing to do something different and new, to open your mind to new ideas, and once you start that process, and the ball starts to roll, it is such an incredible rush when the ball becomes a huge snowball , or a runaway train, and you can't keep up!
           So, I spent the weekend playing and creating new metal pieces in a style that is a bit different for me, but I am liking the cleanness and the lines and am happy for now to see where it will go.

         
              Thanks for taking a look. I hope this week brings you a happy new adventure!

KEEPING UP

          As you can tell by the title I am having a very hard time keeping up with my blog.  I am not sure why, I guess, once again I have way too many things on my plate and I cannot do them all no matter how much I tell this huge head of mine I can! I have been working on a lot of jewelry, and enjoying it immensely, and my art has taken the back burner, and I miss it immensely, and I am back to trying to find the balance, and around we go again.
         When I work on a piece like this I silently tell myself the story until it is finished, and I work it out like a piece of art.  This is a new piece in my etsy shop, the gorgeous pendant made by the incredible porcelain artist Barbara Rog. It instantly carries my mind to another time and space. I love metal, I love beads, I love jewelry, I love art, I love blogging, I love my blogging and art friends, I love so much stuff...and Its all good and great and I am glad I have such problems!!
       Thanks again for stopping by and I hope to be a better supporter of your blogs too!

FEW WORDS

This weekend I made time for art...yaaay! Two different moods, two different styles emerge. Few words, and no explanations, just me. 

 

Hope you are all having a great week and a great summer! Thanks for always stopping by and leaving me your kind words!