New listings in my shop

I don't skip a beat.

check out the new listings in my shop today!

42 hours of Uncomfortable

Never a dull moment, I tell ya! But, this was my first stay in a hospital and I can only describe it one word.

Uncomfortable.

My sister came to stay with me for 4 days while Joe went down to Connecticut to do some stuff for his Mom. I wanted Franny to keep me company while Joe was away. Little did she know that this would be what she woke up to Wednesday morning.
When I woke up Wednesday I felt the dreaded heart flutters, but totally worse that ever before. I have had these flutters maybe 2-3 other times in the past 8 months. Didn't ever think anything of it before. Yes, it was scary but Wednesday felt different. I got down the stairs and immediately needed to sit down and rest in the living room before making it to the coffee machine in the kitchen. I thought to myself, "This can't be a good sign" I felt light-headed, and got the hot sweats; felt like I was going to pass out, on top of the flutters. It felt like my heart wasn't doing the normal Ba-bump, Ba-bump. But was doing more of a BibbityBobbityBumpdeBump. "That can't be right"
After a call to the boss, and a call to Joe, I called Fran on her cell phone, as I was on the couch and she was in the bedroom upstairs.

She answers: "hullo?"
Me: Hi Sweetie. Mornin'!
Fran: "Morning!"
Me: I'm not at work, I'm downstairs.
Fran: "OH?
Me:" Yea um, gonna need you to do me a favor. Can you get dressed quick and come down to take me the emergency room?"
Fran: "WHAAAT!?!"

And off we jetted to the local St. Elizabeth's hospital. After checking in and getting into a room, they determined my heart rate was all over place, and as high as 160. They immediately checked me in for the night. GAH. Hooked up to IVs in both arms, and I think they did labwork on me 5 times while I was there. Sleeping was impossible. I was not a happy patient. I just about jumped out of the bed and hugged the cariologist today when he finally sauntered in at 1 pm and told me I could go home. The night nurse had said " Oh I doubt they'll let you go home tomorrow, prolly keep you one more night for sure" Did I mention I was NOT HAPPY?

So after all that, it was determined that this might have been triggered by low Potassium in my system. I was prescribed a Beta Blocker called Zebeta, and told to eat more Potassium and I have to go back in to see the Cardiologist on Wednesday. I feel fine now that I'm home, just tired. The hardest 2 things about being in the hospital. Couldn't drink coffee, so that resulted in a very sever caffeine headache for the past 2 days. Joe and I have decided to quit drinking java, SCARY THOUGHT... but just can't do it anymore. So we'll do that half caff thing for a while and wein ourselves off of it.
The other tough thing was pulling the goddamned tape and sticker things off before I left today. MY GOSH! Don't think they could make that tape any stickier. It was close to impossible to remove and I think it took a top layer of skin off with it. GAH.

The picture above was requested by me.
Me: "Franny! take my picture, this is a blog worthy moment!"
Fran: " You sure!?? HAHAH! ok! But send me a link so I can read it!"

:)

Missing in Action

i just want to apologize for diappearing for a few days.

heart palpitations landed me in the hospital

for a two day stay.

i'm finally back at home.

a new med was prescribed.

i'll catch you all up on some details

after i get some much needed sleep.

lorelei

Swarovski Elements from Artbeads.com

Artbeads.com has a whole assortment of different Swarovski Crystal elements that you can purchase for jewelry designs. I had the opportunity to try out a few of these this past couple of weeks. The first piece, in the picture above, I used the Swarovski Crystal pearls in a pale sage green color. These worked really well in this piece, and matched perfectly to some cream color glass pearls that I had on hand. The pearls are really nice, they have a good color, are weighty, and have a nice evenly smooth surface.

This second piece, I wire wrapped some of their Swarovski Crystal rounds in a beautifully and rich Caribbean Blue Opal color. These paired perfectly with the ceramic bezel piece I created this past weekend. I also used one of Sue's lampwork beads in the same color tone.

Artbeads also carries cool crystal encrusted yarn and suede, which I am looking forward to trying out. The the pearls and crystals that I used above, I also ordered some pretty Faceted crystal rings, and some Deep orange crystal flowers. Look for these in designs coming soon!

Artbeads.com has sent me these products to review on my blog and I have not been paid for my endorsement of this product as it pertains to the products received.

Enchanted Adornments: Giveaway No. 1: Mermaids!

Cynthia Thornton, of Green Girl Studios, has written an amazing book called Enchanted Adornments: Creating Mixed-Media Jewelry with Metal, Clay, Wire, Resin & More, and it will be released on November 1, 2009! I am really excited about the release of this book because Cynthia and her family, are all amazingly talented and this book will totally rock the hizzouse. But not only that, I contributed a piece of jewelry for the Gallery section of the book, and am really super excited for all of you to see it!

The Green Girl Studios team, graciously donated 8 small packages of beads to be randomly given away, in honor of the big book release, to my little blog! How cool is that! This week will be the first of the 8 givaways. This first package of beads contains 6 pewter, and 1 Bronze metal clay pendants/beads, in the Mermaid theme! (Each giveaway will have a different theme!)

All you have to do to enter yourself to win, is leave a comment on this post!

I invite you to Please pass the word along on your blogs, Twitter, Facebook, or any other online venue of your choice, however, you will ONLY BE ENTERED ONCE by leaving a comment, on this post only. 1 comment per person will be counted. if you forget and leave 2 comments, one of your comments will be disqualified. (as long as I can keep up with that)

I will draw a random winner using the Random Integer Generator, on Monday August 3rd!

Good luck to everyone!!

Check out the sidebar for the Calendar of Enchanted Adornments giveaways!

Weekly Bead Links

A Bead A Day The new Swarovski Air Blue crystals are perfect for summertime jewelry making. Lisa has used them to represent a "happy day" in this ring and necklace set.

About.com Jewelry Making Rock clubs rock, literally, when you are looking for inexpensive, local jwelry making classes.

Art Bead Scene Tired of your liver of sulfur going bad? Check out this - Patina Gel!

Beading Arts The second part of Cyndi's tutorial on using CopprClay to create a necklace.

Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi introduces a vintage walnut to rhinestsones.

Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva Cindy takes on heavy metal in the studio. No, you won't need to cover your ears - just your hands!

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie takes some time to show off a few new resin and brass collage pendants!

Jean Campbell Jean visited Chicago and discovered a new beading technique using pleather and Conso

Katie's Beading Blog Take a sneak peek at Katie's newest beading book!

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Lorelei makes a fun Owl swap with a blog friend.

Snap out of it , Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean is wowed by Denise Peck's recent earring book, 101 Step by Step Wire Earrings! Get it and make some for YOURSELF!

Strands of Beads Melissa curls up with a few good books from Rings & Things

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton After cleaning the studio, Andrew finds (and finishes) a long-lost PMC Floral Link Bracelet.

Saturday Part Deux: 2nd of 2 posts!

Click the picture to see details!

What a fun time in the studio this weekend! Whew!! I had a blast playing around with mediums that I haven't ever tried before. Are they perfect? Nope. Did they take a whole lot of time? Nope! Were they fun and creatively stimulating? You Betcha! Will they sell in my shop? Who the heck knows. I suppose it's worth a shot. Sometimes it's not about that, it's more about the process, the artsy fartsy fun stuff. I ordered the different elements and wanted 1. not to spend a lot of cash. and 2. to work on something fun and different for a change. I accomplished just that!

I plan on making jewelry out of the ceramic bezels and the pendants, and will list the finished pieces for sale. The rings will get listed sometime today.

I ordered these wood rings from Fusion Beads, along with the copper bezel pendants, and the Susan Lenart Kazmer copper bezels. The ceramic cabochons were graciously and expertly made by my friend LeAnn over at Summers Studio Etc. I glued the cabs into the bezels, and voila! Instant and fun jewelry component!

I wanted to play around with some decoupage, and bought these wooden rings with that idea in mind. I think they worked out great. I especially like the asymmetrically placed button ring with no decoupage. I just glued that button to the ring, and there you have it. The other two rings, took much more time and patience, cutting and gluing with modge podge glue.

Oh and the images of birds- I purchased those from Piddix on Etsy! Please feel free to leave comments on what you think of my little crafty projects. I'd love to hear some feedback. (keep in mind, I know they're not perfect)

I've got a big surprise coming Monday. The term Giveaway: is totally underestimated!! There will be 8 Giveaways. One posted Every two weeks. In honor of this.

Here is a hint.

Saturday Part I: The First of 2 Posts!

I'm getting ready to list this new necklace in my etsy shop. I made this last night, using one of my most favorite Jade Scott pendants of all time. The pendant is a bit larger than most of her other work, and I love that about it. It's a very feminine piece with the floral design on top of script. I chose some ornamental bronze chain from AD Adornments and thread some Deep pink Fairy silk cord through the chain. The clasp is made from a ceramic button from Marsha Neal. And I added a small yellow flower charm by the clasp to pull some yellow from the pendant.

I will be doing another blog post later this afternoon. I am so excited to show you what I'm going to be doing with 1. copper bezels and Ceramic cabochons from Summers Studio Etc, 2. chunky wood rings from Fusionbeads, 3. Bezel pendants

So stay tuned!!

TGIF!

I just need to get through on more day and then I can have the weekend. I just need to endure 8 more hours of my office, my desk, my computer, the phonecalls, the emails, and then... I can do whatever I want for a very very short 48 hours.



I have several things to work on this weekend, custom orders. Nothing too difficult. I'd like to catch a movie or two this weekend. Catch up on So You Think You Can Dance, and Big Brother.

That's pretty much it. Nothing else is really happening here. It's pretty dull. Joe is headed to Connecticut for a week next week to halp his mother with a few things around her house. I have to work of course, so I will stay home. And probably eat a lot less. And do a lot of beading.



Well anyway, enough about that.

My friend Kiersten writes a really hilariously funny blog that I really enjoy reading a lot. She also creates beautiful and funky jewelry like this:


Keirsten asked to interview me recently and of course I obliged. She published the post today. You can read it here! And then check out Keirsten's jewelry at her Etsy shop!

Congratulations to the Winner(S)!!??

That's right! I decided to pick not ONE winner for the blog giveaway, BUT TWO! Winner number one will win the Creative Jewelry 2009 issue, and the Kiss Necklace. Winner number two will also win a copy of Creative Jewelry 2009, and a surprise piece of jewelry!!





According to the Random Integer Generator at Random.org, the numbers selected were:

Congratulations. Winner number one is:

JEAN HUTTER!!

Winner Number Two is:

ZU!

Congratulations to you both!! Send me an email with your mailing addresses and I will send out your prizes asap! ljeurto[at]gmail[dot]com

Thank you for everyone that left comments! I learned so much about what readers are looking for, and have been reading through them before I work on projects to see if I can create something that is requested - helps give me a little direction, which is so great!! Sometimes that is half the battle! I had 75 comments on this giveaway, that's awesome!!

At a loss for words

Today is the last day to enter my blog giveaway. Click here to leave a comment on the giveaway post. The winner will be announced tomorrow, Thurs. July 23! Good luck everyone!

Sweet Owl Swap

One day, I was perusing my favorite blogs with my morning coffee like I always do. One of the many blogs that I read every day is one from Heather Trudeau, but you might know her instead as her alter ego, The Peacock Fairy. Heather loves peacocks, that's no surprise. But Heather also shares my little abnormal obsession with owls. I think that she might just really like cool and rare birds. I can't say I blame her. I digress.

This particular day, Heather wrote a post about how she got out the resin and started playing around with some new bezels that she filled with the cutest little owls I had ever seen. I'm just a huge sucker for resin filled bezels. {hence, my total and utter obsession with work from Jade Scott}

I fell in love with these little owl pendants at first site. And of course was the first to comment on the post about them. A few hours later, I get an email from Heather!

She suggested that she send me one to create a piece of jewelry around- AND THEN! Said she'd put the other into a piece of jewelry FOR ME!!! Who would turn that down!!?? She also suggested that we submit our pieces to the Enchanted Adornments Flickr Group Challenge! You can only imagine that I jumped at this opportunity.

I'm so excited to see what Heather created for me, but I'm almost more excited to reveal to Heather, her necklace! Without further ado:

When I saw the little owl that Heather chose for herself, I immediately gravitated toward a mix of glass beads in different shapes. The owl in this particular pendant looks feminine to me. I chose pinks, teals, and greens as the main color palette. I hand-tied the glass beads onto some chocolate brown linen cording. But to add some interest, I added a second strand of silver tone chain. The pendant hangs from a Vintaj Brass large jump ring, and I wire wrapped some small accent beads and attached them to the ring as well.

It's a pretty and simple design and I think it will look great on Heather!

Heather, I hope you love it! And thank you so much for suggesting this little swap. What fun it was! I could do this every day! I can't wait to see what you've created with me in mind!

Blog Update! Click here to see the most gorgeous bracelet that Heather made for me. I am so thrilled!

Rings

Here is a relatively easy bracelet design that was inspired by the wonderful Vintaj Brass Idea Gallery- I have had this old coin kicking around my stash for a few years I think, I'm not even sure where it came from.

I repeated the circle shape around one half of the bracelet using Vintaj Brass jump rings, and some double drilled brass rings from Patina Queen, the coin, and a lampwork ring from Blue Seraphim. A double strand of Vintaj Brass etched cable chain on the other half of the piece.

This bracelet is available for sale in my shop here.

Really looking forward to some goodies coming in the mail this week. I ordered some Susan Lenart-Krasner bezels from Fusion, along with some wood rings that I want to play around with. I also got some new chain too.

Hope everyone has a great Monday!!

Weekly Bead links

My new work from yesterday is now listed in my Etsy shop, including this bracelet! I love how this one turned out. I've been wearing it since I made it, it's fun to wear, and super comfy.
Thank you to everyone from yesterday's wonderful and supportive comments! I knew I could count on you to pick me back up! I love how close-knit the blogging community is and it's a lot of the reason why I keep blogging!
Please enjoy some of the other talented and creative blogging folks below!

A Bead A Day Can a piece of jewelry create a feeling of calm and happiness? Check out Lisa's starry bracelet made with "new jade" stones.

About.com Jewelry Making How has your web store experience been? Are there too many 3rd partry sites to sell or buy jewelry these days? Take the poll as a sell or buyer.

Art Bead Scene ABS Editor Heather is on the road. Check out her quick project!

Barbe Saint John Barbe reviews Simply Gemstones book

Beading Arts Cyndi shows you the steps to making a simple but sparkling necklace from CopprClay!

Carmi's Art/Life World Rub-ons and leather - a cool combination for this cuff sample.

Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva Gets Loopy Check out Cindy's new project in the summer edition of Step by Step Wire!

Drawing Dilemma Jean asks her friends about what drawing programs they use for beading illustrations

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Lights, Camera, Action! Melanie tells a tale of her Beads, Baubles, and Jewels televison taping experience.

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Lorelei is giving away a necklace and a copy of Creative Jewelry!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean discusses finishing up the challenge "Use the Muse II" which was thought up by Scarlett Lanson, Rainbows of Light.com and Artbeads.com. She enjoyed it very much, particularly because it made her think!

Strands of Beads Melissa shows off a new variation of her lunar phases toggle

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Busier than a bee, Andrew shares fifteen new jewelry designs.

It all started...

...with this

Pewter Butterfly focal- Lynn Davis

I sat down with a goal today. I wanted to do some things that were requested in the giveaway comments, on what you'all wanted to see show up in my etsy shop. I created several pair of earrings, a couple of bracelets, and incorporated some brighter colors, all the while, sticking to my usual style. I am excited to list the newbies, But I've run out of steam. Go to my flickr page to see the new stuff.

The past week has been hard- sales are really really slow right now. Is it just me? Are you having the same experience on Etsy? Why must it be so unpredictable, so up and down!? Where the heck have all the shoppers gone! Are they waiting for something new? Are they tired of the same ol' same ol'? Maybe the economy really is taking its toll on my usual customers.

At any rate, it's hard to keep creating new stuff, when you haven't really sold any of the older stuff.

Just venting. I know I can do that here. My blog readers are very good about being all supportive and stuff.

Obstacles, an ABS entry, and a piece of drift wood

Mmmmm. linen cord, yum!

Wha? you don't need these beads below my fat ass, do you? I didn't think so.

Ok, look what I have to deal with! I'm not making this stuff up. Marley has been especially clingy since we got back from our trip.

It's safe to say that I'm back! I spent a few days thinking things over and trying to wrap my head around something specific. It felt hard to get back into it but I'm back. And I'm happy with the outcome of some pieces I finished last night. Below, is a necklace inspired by my trip to Plum Island. Oh and that piece of driftwood? I found that on the beach! I love photo props lately and what better way to remember my trip!!

This necklace celebrates many different bead artisans- at the forefront is a ceramic sand dollar from Erin Siegel. There is a lampwork flower from Gardanne beads, a ceramic round from Keith O'Connor, an olive green lampwork spacer from Studiorent, a coral lampwork round from The Orange Bell, a ceramic House bead from Jubilee, a lampwork disc that is hard to see in this pic from Loupiac, a drilled stone from Stones Studio Too. I used some etched cable chain from AD Adornments, and some silk cording from Ornamentea, and created my own steel wire hook clasp.

And finally my ABS entry. I quite like how it turned out.

I hope it gets good response. I wasn't sure how to

portray the painting without all the bulls and horses, but

I think sticking to a rustic color palette, I've captured

the feeling of the painting.

A new Giveaway!

The prizes:

An issue of Creative Jewelry 2009 which features several tutorials from yours truly...

AND

My Kiss necklace- featured in the magazine!!

Ok, you know the drill.

Leave a comment on this post.

Tell me what kind of things you'd like to see in my etsy shop. New styles? Old favorites?

You are only allowed 1 comment.

I'll draw a random winner 1 week from today.

Thurs. July 23.

Back to the Grind

Back to work today. I won't inundate you with thousands of photographs from my trip butdo want to share a few favorites from our getaway. What a nice time we had. We kept saying that this area would be a great place to live... we think we'd like to live in Amesbury. Cute town with a lot to offer, really laid back, and close to really cool places like Newburyport, and Portsmouth. We did a lot of driving, up and down the coast, and even ventured into Hampton Beach, which wasn't really our scene. It took about 45 minutes to drive down and up that boardwalk. GAH. But it was something to see, for sure.

Here I am with Erin Siegel. She showed us around town and we had a nice little lunch at Flat Bread Pizza. Got to see the Riverwalk Bead Shop and Gallery, where she works and also

sells her pretties. I bought a few beads, of course! It was fun meeting in person. Erin is just as sweet as I had expected. We got along well and agreed that we would probably be attached at the hip if we lived closer. We had fun talking about projects, and Etsy, and blogging, and Jewelry, and beads!

Joe and I drove up the coast to Maine and checked out our favorite little hot spot, Marginal Way. A beautiful and scenic walking path that twists and turns along the coast. It could not have been

a more beautiful day!!

Here is the main building at Three Chimneys Inn, in Durham NH where we stayed for 2 nights. A beautiful inn, with the most awesome breakfast ever. The grounds the Inn sits on, are gorgeous as well. Lots of land, hidden in the trees. There were fountains and little sitting areas, I fell in love with its charm.

Here is our room, the 4 poster bed was so high I had to use that step stool to get up into it. It was such a comfortable room, nice and homey with beautiful antique furnishings.

Erin took this picture of us at Newburyport, by the bay. Another beautiful day! We got really lucky with wonderful weather the whole time we were there. We had a nice relaxing time and are looking forward to going back again. See more pics from our trip here.

On our way home

I'm a little sad we have to leave New Hampshire today. We had a wonderful time. It was so perfect to get away for a few days, away from the every day grind. And we had a chance to re-group, and re-connect, something that was needing to happen before we start
a new venture in our lives. I feel rejuvenated, and ready.

Weekly Bead Links

I am so dedicated! Coming to you from Sunny and Beautiful New Hampshire/Maine - Here is a nice photo of Joe and I before we walked along Marginal way up in Ogunquit Maine this morning.

Enjoying our time away, and I'll share more pics after we come home. Read the weekly links below!

A Bead A Day Lisa�s �Swarovski Summer Picnic� project is progressing. The only thing missing are the crystally butterflies!! About.com Jewelry Making School's out for summer, but is it really? Nope, not when you can take one of these free jewelry making e-courses Art Bead Scene Art Bead Scene's monthly challenge painting for July is the Lascaux Cave Paintings. Get your stash of beads out in ivory, red and brown to match the color palette of these ancient drawings Beading Arts Wonderful wonderful wonderful new CopprClay! Cyndi is so excited about this new material that she can't stop playing with it! Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi attempts to create a necklace after a resin pouring disaster. Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva Cindy shows off some new chain and realizes one should never shop for jeans on her lunch hour. Humblebeads Check out the 2009 Bead Cruise design contest winners! Jean Campbell Jean Campbell finished off her new LeTemps Necklace design which marries bling to grunge. Hurray! Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Lorelei has busted out of the studio and into the Museum of Art for a trunk show. Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean reviews a different, colorful, and inspiring book called Glass, by Marlene Blessing and Jamie Hogsett Strands of Beads Melissa talks about where to find reliable information on copyrights - the U.S. Copyright Office, of course! The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Challenging himself with a smaller scale, Andrew tackles doll jewelry. Check out five new designs with dolls in mind!

Time for a break.

TGIF! Whew! I thought this week was never going to end. It was the longest week ever and usually is the longest week right before a vacation. Yup that's right. I'm finally going on a little mini vacation. And the in-laws aren't coming. And I don't have to make coffee, or do laundry. But there also will be no jewelry created, and no blogging. (*but I will have my laptop to keep up on what's going on in internetland, cuz that's just how I roll) There will be hopefully, sleeping in, lots of good seafood, maybe a cupcake or two, sand on my toes, and wind in my hair, bead purchases (but only a few) and the meeting of a new friend!

Joe and I are headed to New Hampshire tomorrow morning. When we get there, we'll be stopping in to see Erin of Every Heart Crafts. Erin emailed me when she found out were going to be like 1/2 hour away from her and suggested we meet up for some chatting, and coffee and possibly beads. I am so excited to meet her in person and I think we'll have a great time. We'll be staying in Portsmouth the first night, and then Durham NH the second two nights. I am really looking forward to seeing a new place, and getting some new inspiration!

I'm keeping my shop open but won't be shipping purchases until the 15th. I'll have my laptop and will be keeping up with emails so feel free to contact me.

Here are a few pieces I created last night. I had that super awesome beading Mojo last night. Sometimes I have it and sometimes I don't but last night was one of those nights where I showed up and got "completely lost" in the beads and all of a sudden, I had 3 beautiful pieces of jewelry. I'm actually really excited to list these today! What a great way to end the week!

Another exciting happening from this week is I decided to go to the Philadephia Bead Fest! Heck why not!??! and I invited Kelley to come with me! I can't believe she agreed to fly up from Georgia for the weekend but you know, I'd do anything for beads too. It will be the first time meeting Kelley in person and it will be like we've always been friends. I've been chatting on a daily basis with Kelley for a few months now. I am so excited to meet her face to face and give her a big ol' lorelei bear hug.

So if you're headed to Bead Fest too and you want meet up, lemme know! We'll be there Friday thru Sunday!

Ohhh Yeaaaaa

... Boump Boump

Chikachicka....

Artisan Clay

I've only recently become familiar with the ceramic work of Kristie of Artisan Clay. I saw her work in person when I went to a big bead show out in Albany a few months ago. Kristie approached me recently and asked if I would put some of her ceramic components into some sample jewelry that she could display at an upcoming bead show in Philly called Bead Fest. I was so thrilled she asked me, and couldn't wait to get things created. Her work and my designs go hand in hand, it seems. I love the earthiness of the pieces she sent me. Kristie will display these at her booth, and they will be for sale, so be sure to stop by if you're in the Philadelphia area August 21-23!

A Fair Success

Yesterday's trunk show was pretty good! I had a lot of traffic come through and a few sales, mostly from coworkers. People enjoyed flipping through the presentation book that I put together. And I got a lot of nice compliments on my displays, and people loved the paper cards that I attached the earrings to.

I had a bit of space on the end of the table to sit and do some beading while I was there, which really made the time go by fast! I created a necklace and a few bracelets while I was there. One of the bracelets sold, HOT OFF THE PRESS, immediately after I finished it. I'll be listing the others today.

I filled the shop back up with a lot of the stuff that remains. I kept quite a bit of it to hand off to the Gift gallery to build up their stock. I'm going to take a few things back that they have now. Older pieces that I could probably clearance on etsy.

I will mark a few things down in the shop today, keep your eye out for some sales.

Anniversary Presents

It never fails. Joe and I always end up making a big, extravagant, totally spontaneous purchase of something on our anniversary. Last year it was a full patio furniture set for the front porch.



This year- THESE! A set of two JM Young Arts and Crafts Morris chairs. Sunday morning we were contemplating what to do for the day, since it was our anniversary. I threw out the idea of a little antiquing, get out of the house, possibly find some keys, jars of buttons, jewelry types of items. He seemed into that so off we headed to Madison Bouckville to check out the antique shops.









After a few shops, and several key purchases later, we stumble upon these chairs. Joe was immediately smitten. You should have seen the glimmer in his eye as he was checking them out and asking me endlessly, Don't you LOVE these?



Well come to find out, I did! I haven't seen something like this before and they definitely weren't your typical Furniture store, mission- style chairs! They have character. What first sold me was the cool contraptions on the backs that allow the chair to recline at several different angles.









This long bar with balls on each end, fit into the notches which hold the wooden slatted back. So very cool!

Don't mind Marley, she's just checkin out the smells.






These actually were pulled from a lodge up at Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks. The woman that owned them is going into a nursing home and ended up transferring them to the antique shop where we bought them.







Okay, so they don't smell too too bad, but they do smell dusty and damp. We vacuumed them up and sprayed a hefty dose of Febreeze on them. The cushions are in rough shape. We hope to be able to either have new cushions made or re-upholster the ones that are here.

I liked this final feature the best. Tucked away under the chairs is a pull-out foot rest! How cool is that?

The chair had some loose brackets but Joe got them all tightened up when we go home and then found some Liquid polishing spray and cleaned up the wood.

I am really excited. These are going to go in the front living room by the fire place. My sister is coming to take away our old couch and recliner in a week or two, for her new apartment up at school. I'm thinking we'll probably also end up getting a small loveseat to also add to this room for additional seating.

Happy Anniversary to us!

In other news, I've removed all of my jewelry except for the Reserved pieces, for my small trunk show at the Museum's gift shop today. I'll relist whatever doesn't sell, tonight when I get home. I hope some of it sells, it's time for new stock in my shop. If I have a lot left, look forward to a bit of sale once I get them back into my etsy shop.

Weekly Links

A Bead A Day Do you love Swarovski Crystals? Inspired by talented jewelry designer, Lillian Chen, Lisa creates a Swarovski “sculpture” ring.

About.com Jewelry Making Heard about copper clay or coppr clay? Find out more about this great new metal clay product and check out some new metal clay projects too.

Art Bead Scene Art Bead Scene gets creative with the "Best of ABS."

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts Sometimes you need to have a jewelry makeover

Beading Arts Cyndi reports on her experiences with firing and finishing CopprClay pieces. This stuff rocks!

Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi tries Ice Resin and upcycles a greeting card into a necklace.

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva Cindy learns to make murrini and deals with mud.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Even without a lot of time on her hands, Melanie finishes a clockwork themed bracelet using Swarovski faceted rings from ArtBeads.com

Humblebeads Bead & Button stash and Heather's inspired creations

Jean Campbell Jean gives a sneak peek of her next Beadwork magazine piece

Katie's Beading Blog Check out Katie's wire-wrapped dragonfly!

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Instead of continuing on with the tried and true techniques of jewelry design, Lorelei is finally ready to take the leap and try something new.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean gets her cool stash from Use the Muse II, and muses about it

Strands of Beads Melissa wants to know what outrageous materials are in your beading stash?

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Stop by and say hello to Andrew in Charlotte, NC this weekend. Check out his new designs and some delicious new metal clay coins!

Happy 7th!

How Do I Love Thee

How do I love thee?

Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with a passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints, -- I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life! --

and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Evolution of a studio. Yet again.

The other day I had said to Joe how I wanted to get an old book case for my studio. You know, to stash some pretty things, and also have a nice space where I could utilize the shelves for packing materials, and crafting materials. I asked him where he thought I could find something like that and he says - non-chalantly.... There is a bookcase in the basement. SO! I ran down and what I found was an old, dusty opened back wooden bookcase. Down across the back was a board nailed on at an angle to keep the whole the square. I figured, well that might work. After we both had gone down and cleared it off of old junk and an inch of dust, the angled board on the back just wasn't doing it for me. I asked Joe if he could take that off and put something else on the back. He said, I have just the thing. I said can you paint it? and he said Sure! We went and picked out a nice bright lime color that I knew would look great with the Vintage map blue.

After a few hours of working on it, he asked if I wanted a piece of crown molding along the time. SURE! He lined the back with wainscotting, and attached the molding. The end result, a beautiful, solid painted bookshelf that totally embodies the cottage type feel that I love about my studio. You just never know what you can find in the basement I guess!

Here is a little video tour of my studio as it is now.

The noise you hear in the video is the creaky hardwood floors. They are sooo loud!

I didn't realize it until I watched the video! ;)

Just a warning, I will be removing all items from my shop for my trunk show on Monday.

So if you've been holding out for something, come Monday it may be snatched out from under you. Just sayin'!

This lovely is headed into the shop today.

Hope everyone is enjoying their 4th of July!