GRATEFUL

Yes, I am still here. You know how it is, when you haven't posted for so long, that you start to feel that as each day passes, and the time grows longer and longer, it gets harder and harder to get yourself together! Well, I just had to, and this is one of the reasons! I just had to share with you this incredibly beautiful and generous Christmas gift sent to me by my friend Terri of Artful Affirmations.  Terri is the most kind and generous soul, and she touched my heart so deeply with these special handmade treasures that she sent, and wonderful vintage items she took the time to find. Thank you so much Terri !

Aren't these pieces wonderful?!! The top photo is the tin that everything came packaged in, it is so lovely and dainty and nostalgic and I LOVE IT!  The dreamy bits of vintage laces and buttons....sigh....some special beads collected from various trips, teas for me to try and some I forgot to include in the photo...oops! 

MORE super special stones!!!

THEE MOST GORGEOUS tag I have ever seen...please click to see all the layers Terri has sewn in this tag, I will leave it up all year!

There is very very special necklace Terri also made for me, but that will be part two of the post, in a few days.....too much to post!

Thank you for visiting after such a long absence, and I will be around to visit all of you!

Happy New Year to all and and a healthy one too!

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!