lets try this again...

     so last week my posts wouldnt share to facebook... its a new week and were gonna give it another shot... this time without so much cussing and yelling-... for now-
     Im starting to get into this whole steampunk thing-  but I dont want my jewelry to look comepletely industrial-  Im not quite ready to raid my husbands tool boxes for jewelry parts-  but heres my take on it-

... and now for something completely different-

   so I really have been making stuff... just not posting the pics-  I'm So not a closer-  I rarely finish anything.  But check this out!  I made my first scarf!!  what- you thought it would be grey or something??  ColorColorColor!!! 
     those people with all white walls make me nervous- gotta be something going on there. we have a running joke at our house, that if it sits still too long- I will paint it... probably red or yellow-  I cannot leave anything without color (Have you seen my and my daughters hair?!?) 
     so now that I have this astronomically long colorful Dr. Seuss scarf finished... you can be guaranteed the weather will warm up!  Im Way better than a groundhog-  you need some rain??... no problem- I'll just go wash the car-

back at it!

     disney vacation was fabulously inspiring.  I highly recommend the land of the Mouse!  I could easily see myself as an Imagineer, working alongside Walt... who by the way, unfortunately, isn't really cryo-frozen anywhere-  urban myth-  tragic-
     now all I have to do is organize the 200 photos, some of which are merely the sides of painted buildings... but I just Loved the colors!  Everything there is so Saturated!  Its like they used oil pastels to color stuff.  Go there!  It really is the Happiest place on earth... (I think its some kind of drug they pump through the air-)

dragonflys

I love watching dragonflys.  They're a little scary at first but they are harmless and their colors are truly amazing.  If you're patient, they will land on you and if it doesn't freak you out, it's quite a show.  Very entrancing if you just give it a chance. And for some reason, these days, they remind me of my daughter-

beading every day: sometimes less really is more-

beading every day: sometimes less really is more-: " sometimes the basic process of stringing one bead after another is the kind of repetative therapy the mind needs......"

sometimes less really is more-

     sometimes the basic process of stringing one bead after another is the kind of repetative therapy the mind needs... especially those days when you cant seem to put together two coherent sentences.  At "certain times in life" (hinthintnudgenudge) my brain turns into complete mush and anything that begins with a capital letter is temporarily just plain Gone-

     which is kinda okay, because when my sanity takes a vacation to places unknown, a lot of un-nice expletive sentences that begin with a capital letter and end with an exclamation point, tend to replace my normal speech patterns... things you would not under normal circumstances say, unless you were momentarily possesed by demons, seem to pop out of nowhere.

    so instead, I hide away from tiny ears, pick up a bead, then another, and eventually find my happy place... hopefully before I have created a completely unwearable, forty pound necklace-



Ahh! the power of snowdays!

     I would have bet money that I havent been very busy the last several days that my kids have been home... but apparently I's be wrong... I am losing track of days and forgetting other things such as laundry and house cleaning... If I were Tom Hanks on Castaway I would by now think I was in my tenth year on the island-  My concept of time is comepletely gone-
     I made this necklace 3 days ago- then did absolutely- nothing-  Blogging?  Whats blogging?  Oh yea... thats that thing I said I was going to do every day to keep myself on track! (Insert maniacal laugh here-) As my father would say, "Baby, your train of thought has no caboose-"  He said this with love-
     Apparently my absolutely wonderfully endearing children (did you hear that laughter again?!) are going back to school Monday and life will go back to it's normal routine... Well as normal as it gets around here- for exactly 4 days, when we will all board a large airplane (can you say Xanax!) and head off to Disneyworld for a week of quality family time together- (Whats with the damn laughing?!)
     Did you know they say Disneyworld is the Happiest Place on Earth?  Did you know they have no alcohol in the Magic Kingdom?!... Lookout Epcot Here I come!!!

too cute for words

     I dont normally make cutesy earrings, but little mittens and snowflakes... what can I say... Precious!  obviously these are for sale!  someone will Love them with their fuzzy sweater and matching earmuffs.
     okay... so I could have made something totally steampunk to pay homage to the wicked cool thundersnow we are having... perhaps tomorrow-  Ive got plenty of time, wine, chocolate and beading supplies... Bring on the Snow!!

Think Spring!

If this doesnt just reek of Spring I dont know what does!  And Boy am I ready for it! We are supposed to get 10,000 inches of snow this week and Im sure they will still try to open the schools.  They send these kids come hell or high water... Bah! Let them stay home and play in the stuff!  Hubby went to store yesterday for provisions and I finished the snow essentials today with 3 bottles of wine and 2 bags of chocolate... Forget the damn bread and milk!  These are Necessities I tell you!!  Now we can all properly enjoy the snow!



the same...but different!

     remember the necklace I didnt want to give away to its rightful owner? Well, this is my version that I Do get to keep... and by keep, I mean just until the next art show.
     My husband panics everytime I say I'm keeping another piece I've made.  He is still convinced I can somehow make us rich on this "artist" gig. Poor delusional thing-  I didn't get rich on my legitimate career, how in the world would I do it now?  So Who Cares! Its fun and creative and...
     ...speaking of creative, my son brought home a paper he wrote that said "If I were a snowflake I would drive a motorcycle and watch lots of movies and make lots of movies."  so if anybody's gonna make us rich it's someone with That kind of stuff goin on in his brain!

Here's to Penny!

     I come from a very old tribe.  I dont mean they date back very far... I mean we are all damn old-  My parents had me late in life (Surprise!!) so all my cousins are older than me and I lost one of my favorites this week.  Penny never had kids of her own, so that made her especially indulgent in us!  She had this enormous hand bell collection that I absolutely Loved to play with... and she let me... for hours-  Woman was a saint... or partially deaf-  I used to spend the night and she would do my hair (and I did hers-) with Dippity Do... do you remember this stuff?  I dont think they even make it anymore. Today I saw one of her nieces wearing the add-a-pearl necklace she had gotten her and filled up over an obvious lifetime of love.  I had totally forgotten about the one Penny started for me.  It is buried in a jewelry box with all of my moms old jewelry and treasures.  I will have to get it out.
   So tonite raise a glass (or ring a bell!) to that special cousin or aunt of yours who made such a lasting impression.

dead-dog-tired

     I cant believe I got a single thing done today. I had five 12 year olds and my 7 year old at the house today for 5 hours... I could just about scream if I werent so damn tired-  they are all adhd, bipolar and have tourettes I think... but wonderful children just the same.  Ive had some wine-
     my hubby's in charge of our two monsters now and Im going to bed with a good book, where Im sure I will read the same paragraph 3 times before I pass the hell out-  goodnight gracie!

dr. seuss to the rescue!

     felt like crap for 2 days.  I havent spent all this money on vitamin C these last 6 months to get sick now- I Refuse!  I will beat this down! ...and in the meantime find the energy to make something funky.  I always call these pieces my Dr. Seuss necklaces.  they're wildly colorful, swirly and just not quite real.  I even made a bracelet too...woohoo!  oh!  that almost rhymes!...
     ...one bead, two beads, red beads, blue beads,
     nyquil cold meds make me dream beads-

 

hate to give this one up

got some wicked cool lampwork beads from leslie and made this for her.  she pays me in more wicked cool beads, but sometimes it's still hard to part with the final product... it's one of those "crap! wish that one would've been mine" moments-  I suppose I could always make another one-  hers is still better- bitch- hehe!

just in under the wire...kinda

     finished this one late last night and too tired to photograph it... over 100 wire wraps... lotsa swarovski crystal.  I loves me bling!  wire-wrapping is so repetative and theraputic... up to a point... then its just tiresome, your hand hurts, and you want the damn thing finished-
    an aside:  -so last night while Im working, my son says to me,"wouldn't it be cool to be shrunk, like in that movie... our TV would be like a Jumbotron!"...we need a new TV-

Not for Sale!

sometimes I make something I love so much, I can't fathom selling it... this is one of those days.  My friend Janet gave me the cool shell fossil pendant and I added labradorite, kianite, pirite, and some awesome lampwork.  I'm wearing it tonite to a potentially really boring dinner... maybe I will be surprised.

tonight its a quickie!

     too pooped today to do anything in the extreme sense of creativity... so a nice easy pair of earrings will be on the boards tonight.  I had a lady look at these and say, "Ooh!  I like that they don't match... but I don't know if I could wear them... Can you make me another pair just like them so I have options, because I just don't know if these Are Me or not?"  My knee-jerk reaction is to say, "Lady... if you like something... it's You.  Don't be scared of a pair of mismatched earrings.  There are bigger worries on the planet."
     instead I smile, make the earrings and then when I call... her number has been disconnected... Yea, I'm thinking mismatched earrings are the least of her concerns-

     a note on marriage:  on the way to school today, my son says, "Mom, marriage looks hard."  oh, the response options... "Well, son, it can be challenging", is what I went with.  he continues, "Yea, cuz what if they turn out Icky?... then you're just kinda stuck, huh?"  "Well," I tell him, "this is why you don't rush into these things.  Your dad and I dated for 6 years (not My idea-) before we got married."  "Yea," he says, "I might want to start looking soon-"  I may have a daughter-in-law by the time he's in third grade-

is organizing considered being creative??

     after photographing the necklace I made last night, instead of just putting the damn thing on my blog, I spent the majority of my day organizing pictures on the computer... and not just My pics... I had to do everybodys... my daughters (now That was informative!), my husbands, and even those of our 7 year old son... Thank God I didnt find too many pics of me.  I have exactly 2 photos that I will willingly allow "out there" for all to see; neither of which shows Anything below the neck-
     this compulsive photo-organizing behavior is the kind of thing that sucks away my time.  I could claim that I am at the mercy of my OCD tendencies... but the truth of the matter is, I believe I just lack directional thinking patterns.  As my father would say... my train of thought has no caboose-
     but the necklace is done-

beading every day

hoping to qualify my creative endeavors, I am holding myself accountable to create one new piece of artwork each and every day.  damn the laundry, the dishes and any other mundane household task that may stand in my way!  If anyone enters my home, at the ready to call in the national guard and have it declared a bonefide disaster zone; all I will have to do is say, "Yes, but would you just Look at this fabulous necklace I made this morning?!" and all wil be right with the world... My world anyway-