Adjusting To Summer....

Does anyone really think it takes any time to adjust to Summer? I don't really think that way and I ALWAYS look forward to it.

This Summer is a little different than ones of the past in that, I'm trying to build my art base with lampworking and a few other things. Lampwork seems to be my "bread & butter", at the moment. I'm trying to work regularly at it (ie...at least during the week). I'm also trying to keep some "fresh" listings in the mix. I need to add to my glass stock but haven't quite gotten around to sitting down to get an order together.

Morning is usually reserved for lampwork time since it's cool enough to be somewhat comfortable to sit in front of the torch. Afternoons are for the house (work) and then either wirework, polymer or whatever happens to strike my fancy, along with listing things. Sometimes (ok, a lot) I have a hard time trying to decide what to do and waste a lot of time "thinking". I've decided to put an end to this monumental time waster and just pick something up and start working on it. I did that last night and found that it helps a lot and then I feel like I'm getting something done.

The kids seem to be enjoying Summer (don't they all) and I took the 2 youngest boys in to the Dr.'s yesterday for their boosters (and check-ups) before school starts again in the fall. It's closer than you think.

Hope you're all enjoying your day!

Back To It......

A week hardly seems like enough and now that we're back home it seems like we never left. A great time was had by all. The week started a little on the chilly side but by the end it was beautiful! All got a little sun and wind burn and spent tons of time on the beach and in the pool. The picture of the clock is what hangs in the master bedroom. That was pretty much the attitude the whole time we were there. There were lots of deer hanging around and we have a picture of the boys for future reference for (growing) size next year.

Now that we're back home Summer has finally hit with the weather in the 80's and 90's. I've still got some beads to clean and list from before I left and I'm looking forward to hitting the torch again. I'm also starting some of my auctions at .99. Only a select few though. Our next trip will be later in July. Just a short camping excursion (have I mentioned how much I hate to camp). It's my Honey's yearly family reunion so I'm obligated to go, plus the kids absolutely love it. That will pretty much be it for the Summer runs. Jimmy and the boys might squeeze in some weekend camping but that's not my bag and I get the fun of being home "alone" which I adore!!!

I'm off to bed for now. Check back tomorrow for some new listings.

Have a wonderful night!!

No STRESS.......

I promised myself that I wasn't going to get stressed about this years trip, but in the end it got to me anyway. Having Internet issues didn't help in the least. I have replaced everything that needed to be replaced and even upped my dsl but in the end it looks like my computer may be failing me again.........I think that people should begin to think that the norm is, you should replace your computer, at least, every 2-3 years. Waiting longer than that will cost you endless aggravation in one area or another.

It should be an interesting week with out access. Kind of like a withdrawal only without the sick feeling.

The boys are acting like tomorrow is Christmas. I think we will be on the road fairly early. The dog will miss us more than the daughter but the drive should be a little quicker on Saturday than on Friday afternoon/night.

I'll be back in a week to post an update (camera packed).

Take care!!! Sorry no pictures the computer/internet.....whatever, doesn't seem to to working at the moment.

Trying To Decide......

It's down to the wire for our trip to the ocean and I'm having a hard time deciding what projects to take. In the end it won't really matter because I'm usually way too busy to do much of anything so..... I'll quit stressing about it and pack up a few goodies and see what I come home with.

I'm running extra long auctions on both Ebay & Justbeads. I want to maintain a presence on both sites while I'm gone. I had to let it go for one day on Ebay because the longest auction of them is 10 days.

The house is almost clean and between the daughter and the dog things should pretty much stay that way.

I will try to bring back pictures and keep your fingers crossed that it's not raining the whole time although we still have a good time no matter what the weather looks like.

It's Almost Here...

Summer that is, though I think we've missed Spring, for the most part, altogether. The kids will be out of school in a couple of days. I got my littlest one registered for fall but still need to get his boosters done.

The weather is sunny today with the occasional cloud or 10 moving through. A little warmer (60's) but a bit of a cool breeze blowing through.

I've been wrestling with internet problem over the last few days and think I'm finally going to have to give in to upgrading my service for a new modem. Of course it will speed my connection up a bit, too bad it won't work for my computer.

I sqeezed in a good couple of days of glass last week. I'm experimenting with writing on them. It's going well but I definetely need to work on it.

I've also been carving some small jewelryish items. Along with my shrink plastic. Polymer is on the back burner since my oven went on the fritz and I have no way of baking them at the moment. No matter what I'm working on it always ends being some sort of sculptural item, be it glass, wood or clay.

We are heading to the ocean next week. I will try to keep some auctions running while I'm gone and a bunch of stuff made to list when I return. My daughter will be here but she has no interest in helping to up keep by stuff. I understand since she's busy with work and such. Hopefully I'll have a laptop by next Summer. I will also be bringing some projects along to work on between the beach and the pool. My fingers are crossed that the weather will be nice and warm by then.

Hope you're all having a wonderful day!!

Rain, Rain, Go Away........

So I was wrong about Summer being in the air. It's more like Fall all over again. The rain can be almost relentless at times. I suppose on some level I shouldn't be complaining, after all I live in the Pacific Northwest and aren't we known for our rainy weather?? However with Summer just around the corner and the very occasional nice sunny day. Most of the days lately have been in the 50's and pouring down rain. The weather people are saying that we are 10-15 degrees below normal (global warming, maybe??). Oh well, I'm keeping busy, at least.

I'm registering my youngest son for school today. We are both very happy about it. I was going to enroll him in full day kindergarten but I don't think the cost is worth it. Instead I will request for him to be in the morning program, because that is my most productive time of the day.

Have I mentioned my band (saxaphone) boy. He's 13 and LOVES his music. He loves a wide variety which is wonderful to see at his age and he's also developed a passion for neckties. How cool is that!!! He's going to try out for Jazz Band next year too. I hope he makes it although it will mean I have to drive him to school every morning because they have to be there and hour earlier than everyone else for practice but I love Jazz and it would be a blast to watch him play.

On the art front I have been busy, busy, busy! I have been trying to pull off 2-3 morning a week on lampworking. This week I was only able to pull off one but that's ok. Once the kids are out of school I should be able to get a better scheduale going. Plus since the weather has been cooler my time is a bit more productive. I've also discovered the world of books on CD or MP3. I love it and only allow myself to listen when working. Right now I'm on a Nora Roberts binge, though I love all types of books from Sci Fi, to Mystery, to edge of your seat Dean Koontz.

If you have some time check out what I have up in my Art Ebay and Just Beads. Nothing new in Etsy lately but I should be adding some things within the next week or two.

I hope you're all having better weather than me.

Enjoy your weekend!

Summer Is In The Air....

At least for the weekend. Then we jump back down to the 60's. I'm really not fond of what the weather has been doing lately but it does add a little more excitement to the day to day, not that I need anymore with the kids.

I have been lampworking as much as I can, which doesn't seem like much these days, but I try to set aside Monday & Tuesday for torch time. I was hoping to squeeze some in this weekend but again that doesn't look likely.

We're celebrating my Honey's birthday this weekend but for the most part it should be a quiet but busy weekend. I have a ton of weeding to do since the jungle took off when the rain warmed up last week.

Keep checking back I'm finally posting regulary on my Art Ebay and Just Beads. Everything else is on hold at the moment.

Things have picked up a bit with the kids and school stuff for the tail end of the year and it's really keeping me on my toes. We will be doing our vacation right at the beginning of Summer so I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to run auctions and keep things going yet.

I hope you're all enjoying your weird (or not so weird) weather.

Have a great weekend!

Not Enough Hours In The Day

There are not enough hours in the day and to top it off I caught a cold.....arrrgh! I've been trying to spend my mornings lampworking and my evenings with wire. The kid(s) get my attention all day long and boy do the days fly by.

Just another little taste of what's going on behind the scenes.

I'm turning in early tonight.

Let The Sun Shine.....

It was supposed to rain all day but it looks like the sun won the battle. We are definitely back to more Spring like weather. The lawn actually got mowed over the weekend.

Have you ever heard of shrink plastic (shrinky dinks)? This has been my diversion lately when I need a little break from wire wrapping and glass. I forgot how much fun it is and the kids, especially my youngest, is fascinated by it. Of course you realize what I end up making with it..........I just can't help myself......jewelry no matter what it is made from, is FUN!!!! Somewhere along the way that shrink stuff (we used to use the lids off liver containers, when I was a kid) kind of grew up, a little. Also instead of using an oven to shrink them you can use a heat gun which is kind of a bonus sort of fun and gives you a little more control over the finished product. I don't have any pictures yet of the goodies but I should have something up by the end of the week.

In the meantime more wire, of course. Rings are my addiction. I've had a fascination with them since I was a kid. They are the piece of jewelry that I can't get enough of. I love to make them and wear them, especially if they attract attention. The "Flight Of The Butterfly" ring above is up on Etsy. I have one that I wear and another up on Ebay. None are alike and that's the charm of making these rings. They are my own design and each and every one is different.

The cross up above is for my guy. He picked the charms that are on it. I just need to put it on a piece of black leather and it's good to go. He can hardly wait. Thanks to Iza for the inspiration.

Funny, just writing in my blog makes me want to go create more stuff........

See ya later alligator!!!

Glass Issues......

I've been making some vessels over the last few days and apparently there seems to be a compatibility issue. I know that the glass is all the right COE but for some reason I keep getting cracks. I'm thinking that it may have to do with the clear I'm using and a combination of some of the newer colors I bought a couple of months ago. I've never had this issue so I'm going to try combining the older colors with the clear and see what happens.

Of course this gives me even more of a reason to continue my work with the wire. I went digging through some of my older work from a few years ago and BOY did I find some inspiration. It really makes me feel good about what I'm doing these days and I wonder what I found so hard about it at the beginning. Well it could be that I've had LOTS of practice over the last few years(ya think!).

I can remember trying to do some things and finding it difficult and putting it away for weeks/months/years, then coming back to it and wondering what the heck was so difficult in the first place. It's like a certain synapse isn't working and then all of the sudden it kicks in, go figure.

The weather is back to a more Springish feel, YEAH!!! I'm really not fond of colder weather. I have lots of family down in California and every once in a while I toy with the idea of heading that way, but for now the kids love there schools and I love the neighborhood, so I'll just have to live with the cooler weather, for now.

Hope you're all having a nice evening.

Just When I Thought Winter Was Over......

We get another 5" of snow over the weekend. Fortunately it's mostly gone today but it's still in the 30's. Last Saturday we had a 70 degree day. Talk about a rude awakening. How bizarre to look out and see the plum & asian pear trees, that are blooming,
covered in snow.

You can see by some of my pic's that I'm really groovin in the wire wrapping department. I can't tell you how much fun it is. I'm still lampworking too and will have some new aromatherapy vessels up today or tomorrow on Ebay.

Right now I'm working with mostly copper wire for my projects but I do have some sterling and gold fill around that I'm going to start playing with soon. Also I made the SRAJD (Self Representing Artist In Jewelry Design) list. My #1515. Woo hoo!! I have to say that one of my favorite things to make is rings. I've always had a thing for finger Art, especially if it's stand out & unique. I'm looking into going back to teaching more classes at Ben Franklin and will probably start with a basic wire ring. A kind of Wire Wrapping 101 type class. I'm working on my first tutorial too, which will be very basic. Kind of a dry run to see what's involved and how long it will take. I'm pretty sure that I have the basics down (I have plenty of examples to learn from) and am looking forward to actually having one in "print". I'll keep you posted!

I hope you're all enjoying your Sunday and having warmer weather than me.
Take care....

Making Plans

I was on a roll and then I got a little off track. I can actually say that it wasn't my fault this time (most if the time it is). Now with this little drama out of the way I'm back to the jewelry....YEAH!!! The weather is on the upswing again after spending all last weekend snowing???

As you can see by my latest work, wire has become my THING! I still love to lampwork too but the prep time is a little longer which makes picking up the wire much easier. I'm really working on trying to finish the projects that I start. I usually have not less than 3-5 projects going at once but as soon as I realize I'm starting another (hey, it just happens when the ideas are flowing so fast) I stop myself and backtrack to finishing the first ones. I've had a couple of prototypes in the works. One turned out fairly well, but not as eye catching as I would like and the other is way prettier but not functional as a piece of jewelry. I'm working to find something as eye catching and functional in the same piece. I'll get some pictures for you when I come up with the "perfect" one, with a progression of how I arrived at that point.

For now I have some wire calling.

I hope you're all having somewhat of a Spring day!

Wrapped Up In Wire

I'm so hooked it's not funny & there is so much inspiration on Etsy that there are times when I spend more time looking than making! That, of course, is going to have to stop. The looking that is!! I'm shaping, pounding, and wrapping as often as I can and the ideas are flowing. I'm still doing lampwork too and trying to make some things that I can incorporate into my wire obsession.

The kids will be on Spring Break in a couple more weeks. Although I've never understood why our school district never has it right after Easter. I hope the weather warms up a bit more before then. We had a nice spread of some Spring like sun, but it seems we have reverted back to the cold rain and frost in the morning.

Easter was nice, we didn't do anything except watch movies (I worked on jewelry) all day. I highly recommend Tin Man. I think it was a Sci-Fi channel original mini-series. It's out on DVD now and is about 6 hours (3 parts). A very cool version of The Wizard Of OZ. Perfect for the fantasy lovers out there. I Am Legend is also really good! An edge of your seat thriller, especially if you like Will Smith. Enough of my movie reviews. I've got a hot kiln waiting for me.

Have a wonderful afternoon!

Some New Work

I've been wire working mostly but am able to squeeze in some lampworking too. I love doing both but the glass requires a little more prep work and takes away attention from my 5 year old, which he doesn't appreciate. The wire work I can do while he's sitting with me. I'll be registering him for school within the next couple of weeks. I can hardly believe it!!!

I'm now a proud member of the Wire Artisans Guild! What a thrill! Here's a link to the blog http://www.thewireartisansguild.blogspot.com take a peek when you can. You get to see a fantastic array of work from a bunch of talented artists! The theme for this week is Magic, picked by me. The moon earrings were my entry for last weeks Nocturnal theme. I missed the week before that. Just too much going on.

Our truck was broken into today in the Fred Meyers parking lot. What a shock and total bummer. We were in the store for 20-30 minutes and according to the police this is now a common occurance in our area with all of the growth going on. We lost some tools and a few other things........man did it suck!!!

The kids don't have school tomorrow due to a teacher in service day so it will be a nice day with the boys.

Off to tuck them in. Have a wonderful evening!

Breathing Easier....

I accomplished quite a few things this last week, but not all of what I would have liked. Between taxes, broken automobiles, sick kids (big & small alike) & internet problems, I have finally gotten everything back to a semi-smooth running basis. I didn't get my Challenge project done :( but I'm working on quite a few new things and the next Challenge is "Nocturnal". I have 2 ideas for this one and will be sketching them out when I'm done posting.

There's still quite a few of my lampwork items to be listed sometime this week and a request I need to work on it that area too. It should be a lot of fun to see how it turns out.

Everyone, in general, seems to be in a pretty good mood. Spring is in the air and I think we are all looking forward to it. I'm sooooo in the mood to create. Have I mentioned that my 5 year old is a total crafter. The only problem is that he wants to do all of the things he's not quite coordinated enough to do. We are working on that and Michael's is have a sort of craft open house next Saturday. I'm going to take him and see if any of the other boys are interested. It should be fun. You can check it out, I guess all of the stores are supposed to be doing it www.michaels.com/theknack. It looks like a lot of fun.

Time for me to run and sketch these designs before I forget them.

Sleep tight!

Yes!!!

I have been busy, busy, busy!! I'm finally starting to accomplish some things I've been wanting to do for awhile and it feels, sooooo gooooood!!!

The first picture is of my Challenge item for the Tree theme at Etsy. It was fun to make and really got me thinking/creating even more things (in my head). I can hardly wait for the next Challenge. I'm back to doing glass too, though not as regularly as I would like but at least it's a start. I've been keeping a note book with all of the ideas that keep popping into my head and wonder how I will ever complete them all. The wire ideas have been going on for a long time, it was just finding the time and motivation to get started. The only bad thing now is that I have wire, cutters, pliers, ball peen hammers, and the like laying all over the house so I can work anytime I have a minute or three.

I hope you enjoy the new stuff check back often for more frequent updates. I promise to try harder!! ; )

Do You Believe??

Do you believe that you can change anything in your life just by changing your thoughts?? It's true, whether you want to believe it or not. Your mind is the most powerful tool you have. Things have been changing a lot for me in the last month or so.

With that said......my art is really beginning to take hold for me personally. I'm enjoying creating soooo much that I can hardly leave it alone and have been spending as much free time as possible creating new things. I even joined a group of wire artists on Etsy for their Challenges, to keep me on my creative toes. In addition to that, the boys and I are hooked on making window clings. It's a kit from Klutz and we love it. I got some more supplies for it about 2 weeks ago and I now need to order more. My windows are quickly filling with wonderful designs made by everyone.

I should be back to posting pictures within the next few days. The weather is warming up and Spring is in the air. Don't forget that Daylight Savings begins next weekend.

Enjoy the rest of your evening.

Well, What Do You Know.....

I whole month got away from me before I got around to posting again. I think this is kind of the slow part of Winter for me. I've had enough of the cold and am yearning for Spring. The kids have missed a couple of days of school and the flu is going around. My honey is working out of town during the week and I'm trying to drop a pound or 2 before Summer gets here.

I'm working on expanding my jewelry making & lampworking skills and haven't had much to post these days.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday, which really doesn't make much of a difference to me one way or the other. Jim & I are both hunkered in front of the computer and the kids are playing video games. It's one of "those day" where we're all just passing time until tomorrow.

Hope your having a nice weekend.