~yum

raggedrobyn & scorchedearthonetsy are in the house!

~acupuncture

i've been doing acupuncture to help with the headaches. what a wonderful way to spend about 30 minutes, relaxing with needles protruding from all over the place! i'm loving it. we have a community acupuncture program where everyone reclines together in the same room and the doc just goes around the circle pinning and tweaking and then letting you be. very soothing for sure. it is a sliding scale so very affordable at $15 a visit.

brilliant orange love

i'm feeling so much better with this treatment and lots of rest that i've taken on a huge project (on top of my masters-glad i have another week off). i'm redoing all the photos in one of my etsy shops. i found them to be too dark and varied. so i'm brightening up the place with new photos and some consistency. so, almost all of my listings are hidden until they rise to the surface and see the light.

vegas

have a great day all!

mish mosh

feeling bettah~

i am feeling a bit more normal yet still foggy as all get out. how can that be?! headaches have mostly subsided and fatigue is less so i consider this a boon! i am off work for a week. docs orders, so i made a few crazy items to tickle your way-out-there fancy!
cheers!

vintage faux pearl chain made by moi, ceramic ET by donnaperlinplim, ceramic connector by Happy Fish Things, a beauty glass head pin by Numinosity Beads by Kimberly Rogers and a wonderful hand-wrought steel clasp by prisiclla moore of yesdearsister.
this is a fun one peeps and full of love! xoxo

crazy love earrings today. i haven't been able to focus for so long it seems, thus grateful to be on the mend. i made serious statement earrings to celebrate! double disc earrings with RaggedRobyn and more happyfishthings ceramic beads. greens, blues, purples. xoxo

~resolutions

happy new year! 

i am not one to make resolutions unless it's to not make resolutions, but then some things happened that i guess could be a new me but it all started in late 2014. 

right around the recycled art show in december.

inviciti dangles, stacks of numinosity beads, raggedrobyn beads and old love

an old friend, who i had run into over the summer, texted and wanted to get together. i was a bit busy so i committed to getting together after the show. we had a lovely lunch together, reconnected and now look forward to doing some art-days together. she was my books arts teacher when i went to prescott college and is a wonderful visual artist. she's also the head of the NEA, so we have a lot to talk about. i look forward to those days of creativity with her as well as the politicking.

numisticks, raggedrobyn beads and my pit fired clay beads with antique glass

it was then that it dawned on me that i do not make enough time to be friends with others. i'm a bit of a recluse. you know, like that little spider that only shows up when it was convenient for it or its been disturbed? so i made a mental note and called a few old friends. made play dates and had a blast. now that my winter break is sliding into home plate, i made a vow not to stop. it's been so much fun!

enameled tin by numinosity, raggedrobyn beads. sundries of love

but it didn't stop there. my husband and i got new phones for christmas. we now have complimentary phones and he found an app on it for your health. we are hooked! you plug in some stats and it sets goals for you. steps to be taken daily, calories to tuck into and calories burned. 

we started using it with ease. it's so convenient!

numinosity criffles, raggedrobyn beads, sundries, antique shell button blanks

i've struggled with being overweight for 7 years now. new meds packed on twenty pounds, a decrease in exercise and increase in age didn't help so on went another 20 and so on. at the moment i am, in my opinion, 50 pounds over weight. at 200 lbs i actually feel pretty good, i don't really see it in the mirror but look at the size of my cloths and freak. i already feel better now that i'm tracking, and competing with the hubs is kinda fun! being pre-diabetic and overweight, i see this as a good thing.

inviciti dangles, numinosity criffles, vaseline beads. love

i have always tried to keep a food journal but failed miserably. this morning i realized this app is my journal! duh! a food diary in my pocket. it stores all of my data and even shows graphs for visuals. i'm absolutely hooked! i've already lost some weight. pretty fucking exciting if I do say so myself.

domed beer bottle caps rounds, chippy red enamel, glass beads

then the art happened. the recycled art show was amazing. it was very emotional as my buddy and booth partner had passed away in august, so i was in this huge booth by myself. i hung a gossamer type curtain to cut the booth in half as it was too depressing. i nearly sold out that weekend and rekindled even more old friendships. it was the best show i've had in years! but i came away from it thinking that it might be my last unless i can find a booth partner. i just cannot fill a 10x10 space and i seem to be drifting away from recycled as you can see from most of my recent jewelry. i have tons of supplies and let myself ignore them unless i could combine them with something recycled, 

but assemblages are fun and i'm not going to be held back by limitations any more. no siree!

from a thousand years ago. recently resurfaced. 

i feel like all these things coming together ended up being resolutions per se that fell in my lap. i am now part of an assemblage group that puts out art challenges. very fun and keeping me busy with pushing my craft. and i start my masters as a reading specialist next week. 

it's all good with new beginnings.

so, here's to a happy new year everyone. 

full of life, and whether good or bad, i'm ready to roll with it all.

playing with glass and stuff~

gifts~

i received these gifites when i bought a pair of earrings recently. what a surprise!

so far i've made earrings, a bangle and a few necklaces. xoxo

mannequin hand yum and numinosity beads~

ooh. i love the hand that arrived today! so much better than the vintage soda pop bottle i was using for bracelet photographs. i found this on etsy at Cynthia's shop beatnheartVintage. thanks Cynthia! not meant to be a stack but could be. if you do not snatch these up, they go to a consignment shop tomorrow. so much history and so much fun. petra's dangles of eggish and fingerling styles on the small one.

this one is a spectacle to behold. mostly antique shell buttons with a couple of shell buckles, an antique salt shaker top that is inlaid with shell and a bunch of other goodies. i loved making this one!

then some numinosity headpins arrived! kim is awesome and i love her work. i also love, love, love lagunitas brewing company and their ~a little sumpin' sumpin'~ ale so showed off some green bottle caps with the purple spears.

in the end come some peachy spears with antique shell button fringe. yum.

have a great day everyone!

three day weekend~for the love of pete!

yup. got myself a three day weekend and endless possibilities. dreamt of so many over night. get together with girlfriends and cook a meal. walk to the pub and have a drink. do nothing! make jewelry...gosh. bet i could think of a million more things before lesson planning on monday. ;)
last night and this a.m. i decided on jewelry. three pieces done by 8:30. now photographed and ready for viewing. i'd put in a photo of my workspace (like pipnmolly suggested), but it's the back porch and it's so COLD that i haven't been working out there, just grabbing supplies and coming inside 'cept for the hammering. gotta do that on the porch.
the porch does have an enclosure, but at 1 degree, not very inviting. xoxo although this week, during the day, they say 50's. woah. way far cry from the 0's and teen's. cool! but hubs is mad 'cause he wants snow and i don't blame him. in the desert southwest, all the snow-pack we can get will help crops and animals (including the ~humans~) to survive. anyway.

i recently decided on a few career moves at school. career moves. lol. i'm going to mentor a few kiddos (along with providing the morning club, after school tutoring two days a week, art one day a week and board games on another) AND be the snowboard-sponsoring-teacher. so, for 5 friday's, i will strap a board to my feet after hiking up the bunny slope, and board down with a bunch of teenagers. i figure hey, the kids need comic relief and i can provide that! so, i be busy and it's all good fun.

i hope to see some sewing happening in monster art this coming week. the kids have been drawing, making patterns, picking out fabric and starting to pin and cut. i'll do a whole post on the steps when they are complete. these are plush monsters, so the kids are psyched to make their own monster pillows! most of the class of 17 are boys from grade 3-6. they are more excited than the girls! stereotypes be damned!

cheers y'all!

worm exoskeleton from the sea. sari silk and antique shell buttons. thanks kim xoxo

paper wrapped and sealed vintage belt buckle, sari silk, antique shell buttons, scorchedearthonetsy ceramic dove, sundries

smooshed bottles caps, reclaimed chain, rhinestones, clay roses. love.

wire woes 'til the copper explosion~

sterling silver wire~oxidized of course as i love the black. i can no longer afford it though. even traded in my handmade silver ear wires for personally transformed surgical steel as a result of the prices.

steel wire~started using it back when a friend showed me some squiggles he made with bailing wire. never worried about it 'til i bought a pair of earrings made from various sizes of steel wire and they rusted just from a small amount of moisture while hanging out in my car overnight (not me, the earrings). i then pulled everything i had made with steel wire and sealed them real well with wax or took them apart. now i only use the very thin wire to hold my silk in place on earrings and seal reallll good.

copper wire~spools of it! i brought some home the other day and oxidized it. what a mess! i have to wipe down the wire to remove some of the tarnish or else it transfers, but i love the look once i get the excess off! i recently decided on copper as i noticed more and more of the women i admire have been using it and i love the look. then a friend mentioned how inexpensive it was, so i made the leap. i think i can use the copper to hold the silk in place and i won't have any worries about rust.

well, here are my new attempts at prettiness using the copper wire~

copper wreath earrings~

kim and i gifted each other yumminess. here are some of her lovelies on my new lovely wire.

Sara~

these are me favs. enameled copper roofing material with vintage roses and vintage dress makers accents all on copper wire.

Trade~

matte chevrons and sterling silver with numinosity head pins. copper wire.

Charming~

labradorite, painted porcelain doll arms, little rosary connections from robyn and copper wire. i have a tiny stash of stones. not many mind you and i pretty much used them up (save some moonstones from kim) on these next three pieces. i usually stay away from wire connections as the silver was too expensive and the stones are not recycled, but i went for it and made sure to put something recycled with the stones.

inspired by robyn~

old belt buckles from uncanny artists and faceted garnet. definitely french circus inspired. oops, see a little copper tail, gotta go fix that! <3

lipstick love~

50's era metal lipstick case for your little treasures! double strand of orphaned stone beads with some accents ~antique metal button from fagins daughter, an italian coin from my buddy trent, a small charm from an old earring and a small spade charm from laura at uncanny artists~.
so, i say orphaned stones 'cause some of them are slightly chipped around the holes and most people wouldn't use them. i found them at a thrift store during the summer months and with the holes being so teenie, i had no idea what to do with them until the recent copper wire explosion!

hahaha funny life~uncanny artists is actually owned by laura from the recycled art show i do every year. i hadn't seen her there in the last two years and wondered what had happened. i love her stuff! doll parts, odd toys, tons of ephemera...  well, kim knew what happened! laura opened an online shop. funny, it took someone from far away to tell me someone close by had their own shop now. small world! visit her shop, ask her for specifics if something your looking for is not listed as she has thousands of items and not all are up in the shop. she is amazing. watch out kim, a ton of collage goodies are on their way!

cheers and happy new year everyone!