I like these!

Pendant- Lisa Peters Art

Drilled stones- Stones Studios Too

Vintaj Brass findings and chain

I really like these. I hope someone else does too. I made two owl necklaces. I’m going to submit one of them to publication. Looks a lot different than this one. I will be listing these two in my shop momentarily.

Chain- AD Adornments

Shibuchi Mermaid- Green Girl Studios

Glass drops, and Faceted Czech rondelles

Ceramic Ring- Round Rabbit Extra

So Far So Good

2 new bracelets now listed in my shop!

I am faring okay with Joe gone, keeping quite busy. Yesterday I cleaned out my closet, threw away a lot of old clothes, put away the sweaters and wool dress pants, brought out the shorts and t-shirts. Reorganized my closet back to a useable space, ironed some wrinkled clothes. It was a HUGE task and took approx. 4 hours. I’m taking 3 bags of clothes and 1 bag of shoes to the salvation army today. whew!

I saw a couple of movies over the weekend, He’s Just Not that Into You. It was on Movies on Demand, and I liked it. It was entertaining and funny and had a great cast. I went to the movies with Tara on Saturday and we saw The Proposal. Another good romantic comedy. Great cast, and really funny. Loved it.

I stopped at Barnes and Noble on Friday- I try to stop in once a week just to peruse the magazines, and see what’s new in the jewelry books. I ended up buying a new book- Secret Life of Bees, and have been reading it almost non-stop. It’s got my attention and that’s huge. I have read a book in months. I also found a HUGE clearance table where I found the most awesome Presentation book- Vera Bradley sells some special items at B&N and I have eyed this presentation book before. It’s perfect to showcase the magazine articles I’ve written so far. I figured I could leave it out on my table when I set up my small Trunk show at the museum next monday.

Weekly Links

This past week I was invited to participate in the Bead Bloggers Yahoo group! I am thrilled to be a part of this talented and beady group!

Here are the weeks blog links, take a minute and catch up on what’s going on in blogland!

A Bead A Day Lisa shares her selection of summery pink beads and crystals. The “Watermelon Crawl” bead mix is sure to conjure up visions of a family picnic on a warm summer day!

About.com Jewelry Making Take these quick polls about wearing and making jewelry. Which are your favorite pieces?

Art Bead Scene The Trendy Bead shows off wood filigree pendants.

Barbe Saint John Read Barbe’s interview on the Objects and Elements blog

Beading Arts Cyndi’s initial thoughts on working with the new CopprClay. There’ll be lots of projects coming this summer!

Carmi’s Art/Life World Carmi hand felts a pretty bead from wool roving.

Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva A trip to glass city doesn’t go as well as planned. Yet Cindy finds inspiration and few new tools!

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie mixes up gunmetal chains and components with brass to make a necklace with one of her Toolbox Treasure pendants.

Humblebeads Heather sketches out some new designs using this summer’s hottest color.

Jean Campbell Ink: Eureka! Beading in the fresh air clears the mind, bringing fresh creativity

Lorelei’s Blog: Inside the Studio Searching for some new inspiration? Lorelei’s got just the place for you to find it!

Snap out of it, Jean! There’s beading to be done! Jean reviews Wirework, a new book by the famous Dale “Cougar” Armstrong.

Strands of Beads Melissa shows off her new lunar phases and compass rose designs.

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Andrew introduces eight new fine pewter pieces from his family’s company, Green Girl Studios.

Do you Dream in Color?

Join in the fun- my friend’s giveaway!

This is my friend Cindy. Cindy, of Sweet Bead Studio, is having a really awesome giveaway, with three prizes. She’s picking 3 winners, how generous!! And did you get a load of the prizes? An AWESOME hammer, one of her amazing hand-stamped Heart pendants, AND this handmade, handstamped copper and lampwork bracelet. I am hoping to win any one of these things, Cindy makes amazing jewelry. I know, because I bought this necklace.

If you want to enter, click this link and you’ll be taken to her post.

TGIF

Poisonous

Click here to purchase.

This bracelet design started out as one of my wrap bracelets. Until I got all the way to the end, and went to pull the leather knot tight with my chain nose pliers, and SNAP! goes the leather. Cut it right where I didn’t want it to be cut. gah! So, I improvised, and just string it like a normal bracelet, onto the cording.
The Poison charm was made by my friend Lola of The Lola Collection. She’s not producing these anymore, so they are one of a kind, and I have the last of them, so when they’re gone, they’re really GONE!
Anyhoo, this edgy bracelet is for sale on in my Artfire shop.

New Inspiration -COMING OUT SOON!

The Spring season is slowly coming to a rainy end, and the beginning of Summer is riding on our heels. I’m about due for some new inspiration, aren’t you? Welllll, you’re in luck! Coming to a beadshop/craft store/ book store near you in a few weeks: the 2009 edition of Creative Jewelry, published by Interweave Press!

This issue is chock-full of new and colorful designs for the Summer season, but also has some great articles like, Do You Etsy? and also a nice section on Designing on a Dime- perfect for this current economy we’re in!

Yes, you’ll see my work there! 7 projects for bracelets and necklaces- and also a small feature about my ever-growing success on one of today’s top leading craft selling websites, Etsy!

Better pre-order your copy now, just so you don’t miss it! Click here to pre-order!

hello, wednesday.

I don’t have a lot of time to blog today, so real quickly, here are 2 bracelets that are being listed in the shop this morning.

In other news, I booked our bed and breakfast this morning for a little Anniversary getaway, in Durham New Hampshire. Joe found the cutest B & B online and I fell in love with it right away. We got married the day after Independence Day, and that weekend of course is a hard weekend to get a room, so we decided to go the following weekend. Problem is, they were booked that weekend so we are going up Sunday and coming back Tuesday. Bummer, but at this point, doesn’t matter. I’m just glad we are getting away, for a few days at least. I was surprised that the DH agreed to it since yesterday we got some bad news and had to fix one of our cars, and it wasn’t inexpensive.

Here are some pictures of the place we are staying.

Looks dreamy huh??

i can’t wait!

How does YOUR garden Grow?

2009 is the first year that Joe and I have ever attempted growing veggies. So far so good, knock on wood! I thought I’d share some pics.

This is in the back of the house, behind the garage, against our

neigbors fence. We wanted to start small,

so we have many many pepper plants for my

addict husband who can’t get enough of them.

2 rows of Broccoli, 2 tomato plants, and

a small row of cucumbers.

Here’s another closer look.

On the patio we have 2 potted tomato plants, cherry tomatoes. And

I was excited to see the start of a ‘mater growing already!

Some other plants I’m proud of are the two rose bushes we put in this year. One in a deep red, and the other is a yellow/coral, knock-your-socks-off Rose!

They both have COUNTLESS buds, and blooming flowers.
The pictures don’t do it justice!

Thanks for allowing me to show off our plants.

Update- Erin Prais-Hintz received the bracelets from the Bracelet swap, and blogged about them today, go read her post here.