Giveaway at Earrings Everyday!

 I am absolutely in LOVE with the earrings being given away by Melissa Meman over at Earrings Everyday.  I cannot think of a single thing I own that I could not wear these with, from casual to dressy (not that I dress up very often).  So as much as I want to win them, I want you to have a chance too, just click on Earrings Everyday above to go and enter.

I'm not sure how I have missed following the Earrings Everyday blog before, but I will be from now on.  So much inspiration to be found there.  I wear earrings more than any other piece of jewelry.  I'm mostly a casual dresser, but earrings make me feel like I at least tried to dress up my outfit a bit.

I'm hoping I am back from my brief hiatus.  I miss blogging.  I miss being in my studio.  I miss normalcy.  It's hard to explain without getting too personal where I was and why, if it only concerned me I would be all too happy to explain..  So I will just say this about it.  Sometimes life throws you a huge curve ball,you see it coming to the plate.  But no matter how many times you have practiced catching this same pitch in the past, your glove misses this one and it hits you smack in the face.  No one on the team saw it coming either so they are just as surprised and upset as you are.  The missed pitch leaves you bruised and with nothing much fun or positive to say.  In time, you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, cover your bruises, put the glove back on and hope you catch the next one.  That's where I'm hoping I am now, crouched and ready for the next wild pitch.  I'm sure my team hopes so too :).

Hiatus

On a brief hiatus due to unforeseen circumstances beyond my control.  Be back soon with some cool stuff to share.  In the meantime here is the view of the sunrise at my aunt and uncle's lake house where we stayed last weekend.

Peaceful isn't it?  Wish I could rewind the last 2 days and be there now, to enjoy tranquility again.

Have a happy week and look for me back here very soon :)

Beads of Clay GIVEAWAY

Stop on over to Beads of Clay they are having a giveaway of $100.00 worth of super yummy beads! 

Here's a sneak peek at the goodies.  Are you drooling yet?  Love that bead with the thistle :)



Cooked all day today for our weekend get away so i have no new works to show you today.  Look for some fun stuff early next week.  Enjoy your weekend!

Hopped it, and some other thoughts on jewelry

The first reveal of the Bead Soup Blog Party was this weekend, I hopped the whole thing and my clicking finger is tired, but it was so well worth it.  It's not too late to hop and check out what everyone made with their surprise ingredients from their swap partners, just go to Lori Anderson's blog Pretty Things and look for the link.

The best part of taking time to hop around is seeing all the things people created, stumbling upon new blogs to follow (my list grew again), finding new places to shop and people to admire.  Inspiration was everywhere and now my jewelry bucket list has grown yet again as well.  One of the things I added to the bucket list is metal clay, I have seen it before and looked at it with some interest.  After visiting the Gossiping Goddess and her Etsy shop Theatoo, I really want to get some metal clay and try my hand at it.  Until then I have several pieces from her shop on my wish list!

As I was playing in the studio last week, in my week of experimenting, it occurred to me that many of my days in the studio are experimental.  I seldom create the same thing twice, and lately I have really been trying lots of new things, whether it be, style, technique or what have you. 

What I have not been doing is listing in my Etsy shop like I should.  I must get back to it and get caught up.  I have never been disciplined at keeping up with paperwork.  I need to go back to list making and be sure to put the unfun (not a word I'm sure) stuff at the top of the list, because I have always been a bit of huge procrastinator.  I know this about me and try to put systems in place to keep me on track, but sometimes I fall off the rails.  Admitting you have a problem is the first step right?

I mentioned in an earlier post that it was to be a busy weekend, it was and I didn't play much at all with jewelry.  But we did see many old friends at the Legion for the annual home comers weekend Saturday night.  Sunday evening we got to see Meatloaf in concert.  It was a good time, but I would have liked to see him in a larger venue as in this smaller setting the music sometimes overpowered his voice; not Patty's though, that chick has a very healthy set of lungs. Today was catch up around the house and run kids around day.  Hopefully tomorrow is back to more fun and creative pursuits.

Oh, and just a few more days until I Siblingfest 2012!

Hopping and Hoping

I have been hopping around the blogs checking on the first reveals of the Bead Soup Blog Hop by Lori Anderson of Pretty Things.  So many delightful designs to see from he most simple to the very ornate. 

While I was out hopping I cam across this really cool giveaway for bloggers.  It's called Free Beads for Blogging and is sponsored by Fusion Muse.  See the button over there on the side for more info on how you can play too.  Crossing my fingers and hoping I get a chance to play with some cool beads from them and blog all about it.  Be sure to visit their Etsy store too, great beads and findings to be had there!

Off to hop around a bit more before heading out to see Meatloaf in concert tonight!

Day 7 already?

It's opening ceremony night for the Olympics!  I can't wait, I have always watched the Olympics with excitement ever since I was a kid.  When I was in my teens I remember thinking to myself that I wished I was an Olympian for either swimming, gymnastics or equestrian.  Although by that age I was already too old to start training for swimming or gymnastics, and while I rode all the time and lived close enough to the USET, I didn't really have those kind of connections.  So now maybe someday I will be called a "champion of jewelry".  One can dream, after all that's what fulfilling careers are built on, right?

The other exciting thing happening tonight , jumped the gun it begins on the 28th?  It's the first round of reveals for the 6th Bead Soup Blog Hop, head on over to Lori's blog, Pretty Things to start hopping.   I can't comment on any of the results yet, I wanted to get my post done before I start hopping. I'm itching to get in on the fun for the next one!

I had to go check the number of posts because I can't believe I'm on day 7 already!  I have a couple reveals today and a couple works in progress from today.  And a few bonus reveals from last week. 

I finished the necklace made from the enameled and stamped discs.  Wear testing it tomorrow night!

Connectors made from 18g double headpins, some of which were enameled in Elk Brown.

This is a bangle in progress.  There are 3 holes that will have beads dangling fro them.

These are a few reveals of last weeks work in wire wrapping.  I love the look of wire wrapping, just not sure if my fingers like the making of it.

Wire wrapped ring featuring a beaded bead made from tiny purple cat's eye beads.  Attached to the ring with enameled purple headpins.

Wire wrapped cuff.  Drool worthy abalone focal bead that my awesome Sis sent me.  I still have a couple of the abalone beads left, still trying to find the best project to feature them.

Not sure how much i will complete tomorrow.  It's our town's annual homecomers weekend.  Lots of the alumni come home to all visit from all across the country.  Parade, picnics, competitions, MASSIVE party at our local American Legion.

Day 6, almost forgot...

Whoa, got so engrossed in working on a piece I almost forgot to post!  Thought I would have more to reveal for you today, but some are still in progress and won't make it in time for this day.  Will work on them tomorrow.  I'm really excited about one of the pieces so stay tuned.

Hope you all weathered the storms today well.  They are reporting that not far from here in Elmira they had a tornado touchdown.  We got through with just some much needed rain everywhere we went today.  After dancing between the raindrops all day, here is what I finished.  For those of you suffering the drought, I hope you get some rain too.

This was in the tumbler still for several hours today, it's a fold formed cuff.  The next pic shows it on my arm, but looks a little odd.  It's awkardly difficult to take a picture of your own arm, lol.

A big cuff like this makes me feel a little like Wonder Woman or maybe Isis (remember her?). 

Remember the brass pieces I was having difficulty with enamel pinging off?  Well I finished it up, still missing a bit of enamel, but I'm liking it that way.  I don't think it will continue to chip as it tumbler for a long time in steel shot with no further damage.  Will report back if it does though, will be wear testing it this weekend.  It reminds me of something ancient, perhaps from Egypt? 

I also like how the copper is coming up from the brass.  

Hand forged everything on this one myself from the links down to the clasp.  Sorry this is blurry, couldn't fix it even in fotoflexer.  This happens when you are cooking dinner and snapping pics at the same time.

Oh, and here was the second experiment with alcohol inks under clear enamel.  I tinted the copper with cranberry in first then added dots of purple, which ened up as these white splotches.  Not how I had hoped it would turn out but interesting none the less.

See ya tomorrow.  Happy Friday!