Sunday, December 30, 2007
Inspiration in Jewelry Design
http://collectivecreatives.wordpress.com/2007/12/30/inspiration-lori-anderson/
In case you're interested! :-)
Friday, December 28, 2007
Jewelry Eye Candy
On Etsy:
This is an extra-long, crocheted scarf out of kettle-dyed cotton. Super soft, very pretty!
The following are made, photographed, but not on the regular web site yet:
A simple, interesting stretch bracelet made with natural wood and tiny chocolate brown glass beads.
A bracelet made with shells and tiny glass beads.
As you can tell, I've also been experimenting with different backgrounds for the jewelry. Not as easy as I'd like, but I'm new to it, so hopefully it will get more intuitive with time. I'd love to know your thoughts on the backgrounds -- do you like the "interesting" ones, or do you prefer a solid/white color?
Thursday, December 27, 2007
The Joys of an iPod
If you haven't heard those versions, click on the above. "Time of the Season" and "Word Up" rock hard, and Placebo's version of "Running Up That Hill" can move me to tears. I heard "Time of the Season" on CSI Miami (where the clip came from), "Word Up" I have no clue where I heard it, and "Hill" was from Ken Burn's movie "The War".
Just in case you wondered.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas!
Notice our cat Buddy in the bottom center watching attentively. Please try NOT to notice that my house is a wreck and things are stored haphazardly everywhichway.
The first thing he noticed was a special stocking that Santa left him. Santa found a very cool handmade stocking made out of NASCAR fabric at a craft show and filled it with a lot of Matchbox NASCARs. He thought that was very cool. (Quick note -- neither my husband nor I care for NASCAR at all. We don't get it. But Pop-Pop loves it and Zack loves things with wheels so there you go.)
Zack has a bad habit of saying, "I want that!" when he sees a toy commercial (it's often followed by, "What is that?") so it was a little tough at first to really figure out what he REALLY wanted. We finally figured out that this Hot Wheels Spin City track was what he really had to have or he would just die. So Ryan and Colin got it for him....
And if you are interested in seeing five seconds of abject joy (seriously, five seconds -- I couldn't figure out the filming bit on my camera), you can click here.
Zack scored a marble run, lots of cars, more Moon Sand, paints, books, etc. etc. I got an Ipod Nano (this will make the gym more fun!) and a ton of books off my Amazon Wish List. Rick got a lot of new music for the car, among other things.
The older boys are at the stage where money is the best gift of all, but they did get a few things. Ryan wanted a good shredder, and he and Colin promptly set about seeing just how many things the shredder could shred at one time:
....which almost made this the Toy That Broke the Quickest.
Hope you had a wonderful holiday!
Monday, December 24, 2007
Christmas Eve!
This meant the traditional race about town picking up candy for the stockings (I did that). It also meant delivering jewelry across town for customers who needed last-minute presents.
It meant the cooking of an exquisite meal -- this year featured Gruyere mashed potatoes and sausage stuffing (Rick, Ryan, and Colin did that).
I just kissed the piglet goodnight, and Rick is tucking him bed, and now I prepare to wrap all of Zack's presents and then join in a game of Trivial Pursuit with the rest of the family.
Life is good.
Book Review -- The Children's Hospital
New Tip and Technique
http://www.beadandbutton.com/BNB/default.aspx?c=a&id=2737
Friday, December 21, 2007
Watch Me Create
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Book Review -- The Time Traveler's Wife
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
More Bridal Jewelry
These are tiny little frosted hearts with Swarovski crystals, perfect for the flower girl:
This is another for the flower girl -- a sweet pale pink bracelet with a Swarovski crystal charm:
And last but DEFINITELY not least, this dramatic large Swarovski crystal pendant on frilly sterling silver chain:
Prezzies!
First is this adorable tiny tin that my friend Amber made for me. She embellished it with glitter, pearls, clay, ribbon -- it looks like a little fairy cake! She also etched a special message on the back. VERY cool.
Today I got a huge box of presents from Allegra with tons for Zack. He was truly amazed ("how did she KNOW?") and appreciative. So was I! First, they were wrapped beautifully:
I have a thing for pretty ribbon. Upon opening, I found two new (well, new to me, they're antique) editions to my tea cup collection:
I now need to get Rick to build me a shelf to display all the tea cups!
Monday, December 17, 2007
Bridal Jewelry
These are from my more traditional line of jewelry. I plan to have a beach wedding section, a bridesmaid and flower girl section, and then a special section for the Unconventional Bride. And of course, a lot of the things will work with your wardrobe whether you're getting married or not!
Bead Artist -- Ashton Jewels
A lot of the glass she uses, such as the glass in the bead set above, is tricky to work with and requires a lot of patience and a lot of practice, and often you never know what color you'll get. Add to that the huge price difference between the reactive glass and "regular" glass, and you'll soon appreciate how special these beads are!
You can see more of Lydia's work at her site, http://www.ashtonjewels.com/ -- she sells on Ebay and her site. Be sure to check out her gallery of past work!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Swimming Olympic Style
Tinker Toys
While Zack played with is toys, Mom kicked my butt in Scrabble -- I came SO CLOSE once but then she pulled a 64-point word out of somewhere and that was all she wrote.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Busy Bee
I got a package in the mail today from a Secret Santa and it was chock full of things (one of which is the chocolate snowman I'm happily munching on now). One of the goodies in the box was this pretty jar of lavender, which is supposed to help with sleep:
Isn't that pretty??? And it smells divine.
I get to start a new book tonight -- finished "The Shadow of the Wind" today and it goes on my list of one of the best books ever. Wonderful! Anyway, my new book is very special. It's the latest Lord John book, "Lord John and the Hand of the Devils". What makes this special (other than it's by Diana Gabaldon), is that my friend Lisa gifted me with it, and it is SIGNED by Diana Gabaldon! What a wonderful, thoughtful gift. Thanks, Lisa!
My mom arrives for her Christmas visit tomorrow! Zack is so excited. Someone else to spoil him!
Monday, December 10, 2007
Books
Gingerbread Trains
Yup, closed for the 1/2 inch of snow we had on the ground. And if I'd only gotten through my email, I would have seen the announcement.
Zack was more than disappointed. So imagine our delight and WOO HOO-style shrieks of joy when we opened a big box from my friend Jen-that-I-met-in-college and discovered a Gingerbread Train kit!
We spent a looooong time putting that thing together and decorating it. Zack stretched out the time as long as he could, thinking very carefully about the placement of each little piece. He also ate more than his fair share of candies (smart person who put in a LOT).
Our train didn't look at all like the professionally done one on the box -- I think ours is MUCH better!
There's the added advantage that the kitchen smells wonderfully of sugar and gingerbread. Mmmmm. Yummy.
I'm just waiting for the cats to discover it.......
Friday, December 07, 2007
Christmas Catalogs and Santa Lists
Tonight I picked up the stack. I am so keeping one of these.
There are black marker circles around some of the funniest things. Who knows why a certain toy appeals to him. More times than I can count, he's said, "I want that!...... What is it?"
He may circle it because of the color. He may circle it because of its resemblance to a toy he has already.
All I know is I'm almost in tears for some stupid reason, HAPPY tears, that I have this little boy.
Product Review -- Lemoncholy's
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Our Christmas Tree
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
New Painting
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Texture in Jewelry
Product Review -- Paper Source
I just got their catalog today, and fell in LOVE with this apron -- isn't it cute?
And I love non-traditional Christmas wrap. This reminded me of the tree they just put up at the gym -- totally delightful in hot pink and chartreuse!
For storage, how about these cute suitcases?
And for a fun stocking stuffer, how about their erasers? In addition to Ooops, the have "holy crap" and "s**t", which if you have a wicked sense of humor, can really be quite funny!
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Product Review -- Hodaka Hasebe Pottery
The colors are amazing, the prices are reasonable -- perfect gifts (although they're so great, you may never wrap them up, but keep them for yourself!
Over the Top Starfish Necklace
I absolutely adore Stephanie Sersich -- not only is she incredibly talented, with a sense of color and texture that I can only dream to aspire to, but she's gracious and giving, teaching tons of people each year her signature technique.
I finally got around to making a necklace in her style -- I'd adapted it in the past but was never really happy with the results. I still adapated the ending -- instead of using a button closure, I made two tiny loops so I can attach a standard clasp and extender chain. The bad thing about these babies is that if you use the button closure, you're stuck with just one size.
This necklace is made with one of Stephanie's lampwork glass starfish, and I then mixed up a bowl of Bead Soup, full of healthy glass and vintage lucite beads, and started working. It took HOURS. Two days, actually, because I can't work on this sort of thing non-stop or I get blisters and tunnel vision.
The result is not for the shy. It's loud, and it's bold, and it's bright. But how can you not be happy wearing something like this? This is a necklace that says, "Yep, I'm living life and I'm tickled pink about it." It's a necklace that makes a statement, and it's up to you to decide what that statement IS.
I readily agree it's not for everyone. But if you love it, I just put it on my Etsy store -- not inexpensive, due to the amount of work that went into it and the very expensive glass bead, but boy is it worth it. NO ONE in the WORLD will have this, ever ever ever.