rawr

RAWR means i love you in dinosaur. ask any middle schooler. i'm sure they will testify to this. well, at least mine would. so tonight i say RAWR to myself as i ring a new year and i say RAWR to my husband for always being there for me and i say RAWR to my kids for simply being (i rawr them soooo much) and i say RAWR to my whole extended family and my friends. RAWR y'all!

Happy New Year everyone. may it be what you choose it to be and much more. xoxo

hmmm.photography

i made a choker. i really like it. it has a unknown stone shaped like a teardrop and vintage shell beads capped with silver spacers and some dripping turquoise. so, i'm happy with my production today and now that i have a new haircut that sticks up all over, i'm in a pretty good mood. but i am perplexed. i simply cannot get good photos of the new choker.  the photos do not do it justice! check it~

it's the shell beads. they glow too much when photographed; in the dark, by flash, without flash but in a little light. grrr. so, good mood with a slight bit of frustration. thank goodness for the new do or i might get depressed!

i keep thinking about a post by corvid delights. ~mindfulness, kindness, introspection and self change~ i see these words as leading the way to creating perspective in the new year. i welcome the new year! bring it on with all it's twists and turns as i have words of wisdom and people who inspire lurking in every corner of my life. good on ya then! and thanks for listening about the photo's. ♥

my little boy likes to make things too. he is inspired by what i do and puts together his own designs. lately, all i've had to do is let him know if something will be too heavy or cinch up some of his jumprings. all in all, he's doing a great job. he says this piece will bring good luck and can't wait for it to sell. too cute he is.

hearts

well, i hadn't been to the jewelers supply in a while and every time i've gone i've forgotten my scrap silver that has accumulated over many years. well, it's gone and i have new goodies. i was inspired then to create a little quilted piece. from my heart, as always.

antique lace and ribbon. vintage faux pearly bits. antique porcelain arm. bike chain link chain.

 i oxidized the chain, but ya kinda can't tell from the photo, so just trust me. ;)

 another layout with labradorite and antique shell buttons.

 finished product. i'm happy.

christmas finished ~

i started to play around then dreamt of it. now the finished project.

christmas gift

the celebrations began and ended with good friends, lots of fun, good food & beer and...a delightful christmas gift. the grab-baggy-kinda-gift that someone like me could really appreciate while others might just say, "Oh, isn't that nice." but we would rejoice and sing from the rooftops! ok, maybe not, but the large hollow silver earring and the turquoise beads just got me all in love. while all of the treasures are worthy of attention, it was these that got it first. i'm thinking focal point on a neckpiece. well, when the hangover goes away, i'll pay much attention to my new gifts and work it all out! merry, merry christmas!

thrift

who doesn't love a thrift store? i find so many wonderful creative components there! i recently dropped thirty dollars on a grab bag of jewelry. just random stuff. got it home, dumped it out and found 20 pr. of earrings, mostly silver. score. the cool part is i donated them to my eighth graders bingo fundraiser. yay. then i found all this great chain, also mostly silver. more score. then i sorted it all into yuck and yum. i kept the yum and re-donated the yuck ('cause my yuck is someones else's yum). so much random discarded jewelry! solo earrings became beads (just use round pliers and roll the ear wire or post into a circle) then i just created one fun neckpiece with some of the chain and few of my olden time beads.

here is buddha, sitting pretty with a glass chili pepper, green clay beads, pipe stone, glass trade bead, shell button, lapis, some stone chips and a few faux pearls. true yum!

made a zillion years ago~bike parts and charms

finals

so i teach middle school. grades 6-8. lot's a fun and never a dull moment. recently, i was grading finals and one of the questions was "how do you know the word geology means the study of the earth?" responses could vary a bit but the idea was that the students would refer to the suffix and say they new because the suffix means...i had a student outright lie and i was on the floor in stitches. you may not think it as funny as i but his answer was "i know that...because i looked it up in the dictionary" keep in mind, no dictionaries were used. too funny and maybe a bit sad.

on another note, here are my favorite earrings as of late. made from seashell beads from an old bracelet, steel wire and little dyed shell birdies with purple matte seed beads. 

~insomnia takes over with 4 inches, so far, of fresh snow~

silver has become unaffordable, so i started using more steel wire. love the look. having used bailing wire for years, i was delighted to find other steel wire in various diameters at the hardware store. yummy! handmade serpentine chain, door knocker, tumbled crystal, assorted vintage beads.

 linen shirt. vintage lace and sundries. a revival cuff.

 chain link bangle. shell buttons. love and adventure.

no particular style. creating with what is on hand as i know no other way. antique shell buttons are a fave as are the bike chain links. where would i be without discarded bike chain! while that is the most widely used material, you can see that i really do create with whatever i can find thus my body of work is varied.

lights

twinkle. dazzle. sponge. effervescent. multi-colored. red. white. clear. dangles. flicker. day unseen. night bright. swag. drape. droop. guiding. enchanting. lively. blushing. glowing. dreamy. seeming. christmas lights. chasing depression from the soul of a wanderer.

campfireglass

i made this neckpiece about a thousand years ago. tumbled campfire glass (bottle glass fused in a campfire) adorned with multiples of trade and brass beads.

i make stuff. upcycled industrial chic stuff.

crazy

let's see how crazy does a blog. hmmm? winter break is a day away and i need something to keep myself busy!