A Glorious Day of Solitude

It is that time of year when the air starts to get crisp and you see sweet corn stands on the corners.

 The news is talking about all the latest food at the State Fair. 

Like chocolate covered bacon......YUCK.....Fried Pickled.......TOTAL YUM and of course the old standby...corndogs. 

I have been school shopping and getting schedules together and supplies for that first day of school and often this choas taps my energy and makes it hard to create.

So when my husband talked about wanting to go to the Minnesota State Fair I cringed.  I love to spend time with my family but my kids are preteen and teen.  My daughter wants to invite friends and go on rides, she is 13 now so she can brave the fair now and meet up later.  My husband and son want eat like the show Man vs Food and hit every food stand including all the animal barns. I have an allergy to hay plus I don't want to feel like the typical Minnesota State Fair livestock.

 I immediately felt what am I going to do.  If it were me I would hit all the art and craft areas, spending hours looking at those by myself.  So why go.  I don't want to cramp the boys feeding frenzy.  I sheepishly ask my husband if he would mind if I stayed home.  I told him I really don't want to go to be by myself and hitting all the food stands sound delicious but frankly since my mom died I have put on 12 pounds and the thought of all that eating made me feel depressed. 

Plus all the masses of people, look at it this is a picture from this year!!!!  I mean really!

Inwardly I am thinking of  A GLORIOUS DAY OF SOLITUDE......I am relishing the thought.

 I hear a chorus of angels sing

 and

feel the clouds parting in my head.

 Freedom for a day!

I set out the day with a vengence. Had my cup of joe.....did some household chores in the morning but in the afternoon. I was going to CREATE.  I vowed to stay away from facebook...only to post some pictures and make a few comments here and there.

I "LIKE" IT A LITTLE TO MUCH!

It was a glorious day of creating.  I started out with quite an unusual necklace.  I still have this Tie Chi Necklace in my head that you can see in a previous blog.  There is something unique about that style of necklace that sits up closer to the neckline but runs long.  I got this great ammonite link from Staci Smith and I had these Mother of Pearl circles and it just felt right.

Now I know, as far as resale this necklace is not the first thing to fly off my shelf and I have to reign in those creative juices and think of my customers.  I find that these excercises can really get me started and that is what it did.

My next necklace I finished was the new take on the necklace I sent to actress Denise Richards.  I did this one asymetrically with those rustic Greek Mykonos donuts, wire wrapped wood sticks and rough matte square Onyx beads. 

Keeping with the theme and look that I started, I moved on to the same feel with the Greek Mykonos disks but did this with these lovely large silvery gray Czech Glass beads. This one I set with rough nugget shaped Pyrite from Dakota Stones.

It is always exciting when you first start in....as you wonder what will catch your eye in your masses of supplies.  The inspiration usually comes from shape color and or texture of the stone or pendant.  I opened up my Artisan Bead drawer, which is in its early stages of collection and this lovely and lively orange ginko leaf popped out from Shaterra  and then I remembered that sponge coral that I had.  I had also been wanting to play with my Sari Silk ribbon from Designed Talented Done on Etsy.  I had made some sari links before and thought I would just play.  I love purple and orange in my garden pots so I decided to add some purple Faux pearls.

Last one of the day I started after everyone was home with stories about all the food they ate and crowds they fought and I felt serene......accomplished and satisfied.

HAPPY FOR MY GLOROUS DAY OF SOLITUDE

I love what I do and make what I love.

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Tea Instead!

ToDaY Is JUst OnE oF tHosE DaYS ThAT THiNGS DoN'T gO As PLannED.

I promise that I won't type like that way thoughout this blog but this is how things are going. uP ANd DOwn. So I started yesterday with this necklace.

This is one of my signiture designs that I make often because they sell.  In fact it is based on the design I sent actress Denice Richards through The Artisan Group.  I have some components on the left that you can see.  Those wavy copper chips.  Well I want to patina them. So I am using some of Metal Me This from Lisa Liddy.  This is my first time using her patina. I am finding out that I am not the most patient person when it comes to waiting for it to dry.  I usually start - design and finish.  Welcome me to the world of Artisan Jewelry Design.  I am a newby and learning.

So while I am waiting for them to dry I pull out the peices of that ugly bracelet that I have been working on to upcycle. Here it is.

I cut this apart and pulled out the wood peices and started to play with it. 

Thought I need to drill some more holes in it.  Go out to the garage to get my Dremel.  Lets just say this is what my husband workbench looks like. 

Okay in all fairness to my husband

(SO HAPPY HE DOESN"T READ MY BLOG)

We both have struggles with organization.  I show his, well I show mine....here is my jewelry desk RIGHT NOW!

So back to the dremel.....you are now getting an inkling into this chaotic mind I have.  So the Dremel, all of my bits are gone!  My son and my husband have gotten into them.  One year my dad asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I said I want a tool box with a lock on it.

So I went to Walmart to buy more, because I am thinking of this upcycled necklace as the first necklace is waiting for its patina's peices.

I come home and cant get the bit out of the dremel. Years of neglet will do that to your tools. 

Okay so I called my son  just like they call me everyday!!!!  Wonder who they got that from!  BEN!!!!!

I am not to proud to say that I used a few choice words while trying to get that darn bit out.

HMPHHHHHHH!

Well big pooh and a half!

Its an old saying and overused and kind of fuddy duddy...

"When life gives you lemons make lemonade"



Well I like to try to think on the positve side so I ask myself as my dremel isn't
working and I can't work on my upcycled necklace and my chips are drying for my new take on the above necklace.

 I Cant Control Those Things Now..........What Can I Control

Instead Of Making Lemonade, Make Tea! and then sit on your deck......

with your puppy

Another day then.......toodles.

What Do You Make For A Beautiful Actress!

About a year ago I applied to a group called the Artisan Group.  It is a juried group of many artists that gift their creations to actresses & actors individually and at different award ceremonies like the Golden Globes or CMA Awards plus many others.  It was exciting to be accepted into their talented pool of artists.

I really didn't pursue any of the gifting until recently.  I was fortunate to get in on gifting

 Denise Richards and her children.  So I looked at pictures and thought wow!

1- She is beautiful.

2- She is very minimalistic in her jewelry.

3- She doesn't need jewelry it would detract from her earthy effortless look.

So I searched the internet and read what I could about her.  I did find her in some jewelry.  One picture of her had a very long necklace that hung down to her navel and looked fabulous on her.  She had a bit of a rocker vibe in that picture. So I thought I could do something edgy.  I also found a picture of her wearing a menagerie chain necklace, which gave me a little more hope.  Maybe ...... I can actually design a necklace for her or send her one of my signiture styles.

So I started to design her a faux pearl (she is vegan) Tie Chi necklace....it is a design idea that I have been playing with and I thought with her simplistic style she could wear it with many things and pearls would look lovely on her.  The design was based on this original look.

This was a fairly new look that I have been playing with and not really tested yet so I doubted my decision. Plus I thought the whole pearl thing felt a bit boring.  I went back to some of my original work and put together some choices and decided to elicit the help of my new friends at the CBC / Creative Bead Chat and I also posted it to The Artisan Group.

 

The consensus was the top right at the CBC and the bottom right at The Artisan Group.  I decided to go with my beady friends.  Many of these artists are published and have writen books and I can only emmulate and hope for a mustard seed of their talent someday!

So Denise Richards is getting the upper right necklace with the help of my creative friends.

 I hope she likes it!

 This is my first design getting sent to an actress.  I am not gauranteed a photo of her wearing it or even a note, but if you do see her wearing it

... PLEASE CONTACT ME!!!!!! 

 I will definetly be scouring the interenet for that elusive photo of her wearing it if she does.

An Excercise in Freeform Upcycling

I love to thrift.  For me it is all about the hunt.  It must run in the family because my mother remembered everything she paid for things.  "I got that for only $2.99 ON SALE!!!" "It was on sale for only $9.99!"  I got into thrifting in college, I would scour the Easter Seals in Brookings SD for those button up grandpa sweaters.

The love to thrift has definitely carried into my creativity.  I get major inspiration from other peoples cast offs.  The texture, shape and color play in my mind and I can immediately weave it into something fun, modern and hip.  Like this cuff below.



I actually walked past it and then something clicked in my mind and I made a double take! 

PEOPLE I GOT IT FOR ONLY $2.99!

I picked it up and looked at the shape and THE DRILL HOLES. I thought off all kinds of things to make. Now what I made is just the tip of the iceberg in my head on this but you just have to start. I did this freeform and just let loose no planning.  I think this is a great technique to use when you want out of a creative block.

Not everything in an upcycled necklace has to be from recycled products.  In this necklace I had this flower from an old necklace sitting in my recycled and reuse box FOREVER!  The glass, I bought at Beadniks in the Mall of America but it is recycled glass from Africa.

Remember the Mother of pearl sticks from the bracelet? Those are the only pieces I used from the bracelet in this. 

The leather is cut off ends in my scrap leather cording bag. DON'T THROW THAT AWAY!  It can be reused in so many different ways!

Next time you are looking for inspirations head to your local thrift store or your Grandmas jewelry box that you inherited.  Make someones trash into something fabulous. It makes you feel good and it is really rewarding to see something dated and shabby turned into something modern and fun.

REMEMBER I GOT IT FOR ONLY $2.99 PEOPLE!