Winter Wonderland

We are iced in at Stillwaters. It took my dh 2 1/2 hours to get home from work on Friday on a trip that should have taken a half hour. It's kind of nice and cozy being stuck here. The main roads are clear, but they never clear ours. We will venture out tomorrow with four wheel drive.
Here are a couple of the things I've been working on. Above is a necklace mad from a piece of petrified wood that Steph gave me with a photo of one of our trees below it in a bezel with resin.
To go along with the tree theme, I made some hammered copper leaves with the tree photo too.

My son and daughter-in-law just got here and said that the drive was perilous. We will sled for a while and enjoy the sunshine and company.
Stay warm and enjoy the day everyone!

Merci Beaucoup!

Thanks so much to Steph for the birthday goodies. I love the colorful bracelet and the chocolate is already gone, of course. She also sent a CD of wonderful jazz that will make great creative inspiration in my studio.

Speaking of inspiration...here is a bracelet that I completed yesterday...something a little different inspired by a photo in Art Jewelry Magazine.

Copper, brass, blue and yellow turquoise

You Find What You Are Looking For

Last week, my sister and I were walking on the beach in Florida, picking up shells and things. The beach that we were on is known for its fossilized shark's teeth. My sister has a finely tuned eye for finding them...I don't. I was finding pretty shells and I remarked that you could either focus on one or the other. If you are looking for shells, you don't find too many shark's teeth and if you are looking for shark's teeth you don't find many shells. I was telling her how some of the blogs that I follow are written by people who like to collect heart shaped rocks and that I've never found one. She said that maybe it was like the people who can find four leaf clovers all day long and others can't.

The next day I decided that I would look for heart shaped rocks on the beach. Within a period of about 30 minutes, I found over 15 heart shaped rocks. It seemed that almost every rock I looked at was heart shaped.

I started thinking that the same concept may apply to life. What you look for is what you find.

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
Proverbs 23:7

...just thinking.

Remember Haiti

I have just listed this necklace in my Etsy Shop. All proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders for Haitian Relief. It is made from re-purposed parts from some vintage jewelry that I had on hand and a very tiny scallop shell that I picked up at the beach in Florida last Friday.
It sounds as if there is a great outpouring of help to Haiti if they could just get the planes in with the supplies. I pray that the help goes where it is needed most.

Home Again

Sunshine Skyway - Tampa, Florida

I just returned from a week in sunny Florida on some family business. The warm sun and ocean were very much the prescription for recovery from the brutal cold that we have had in Tennessee. It froze in Florida too, but warmed up just before I arrived. I had a whole week without creating anything. That was very strange for me. To go even a day without creating is unusual, so I am ready to get to work with renewed energy.

Hand felted wool bangles

I will be delivering new jewelry to Silo Studio today just in time for Studio Thursday tomorrow. Since there will not be a show in February, the theme is Valentine's day, so I made a few things with a love theme in mind.

Soldered charms

Repurposed wool felt cuffs

Tin and resin charms from vintage valentines and anatomical hearts.

I hope that everyone can make it to the show. Shawn always has something out of the ordinary for every customer...even the four footed ones.

Creating Amidst Chaos

Tigers eye, porcelain beads and focal, copper

Well...a bit of productivity has come forth despite the disorder in my studio. I have been moving out all of my storage and painting the walls behind it. This involves taking everything off of the shelves and sorting through the overwhelming amount of STUFF that I have accumulated. I have been wanting to reorganize for a while, so the start of a new year seemed like a good time to do it.Jasper, turquoise, carnelian, copper

The task is far from complete, but I managed to clear a spot on my work table to make some jewelry. Studio Thursday is less than two weeks away so I must get to work.
Here are two of my latest pieces.