of Torches and Rings

Thank goodness for the Year of Jewelry project. I’m feeling less than chatty and like I have no words again this week so it’s Year of Jewelry to the rescue.

Thank goodness for Lavender Oil

If you follow me on Instagram you saw the burn on my thumb. I was a little careless and lost in thought rather than paying attention to the location of my hand. Ouch. A little lavender oil and my thumb healed up beautifully. 

Since then I’ve noticed my torches flame is flowering. My awesome son cleaned the tip for me but that didn’t completely solve the problem. I switched over to using my butane torch but it has always been hit or miss. (I think it was a bit of a lemon) My son being the wonderful kid he is, went out and bought me a new tip. My husband being the loving man he is, went out and bought me a new butane torch. I was one Happy Camper!

So this weeks post brings to you a simple band of sterling silver. Lightly textured and soldered with the new torch.  And the Kiddo claimed it immediately as payment for the modeling session!! Ha!  I need to steal it back for a few photos to create a made to order listing. She wears it stacked with another ring she purchased and they look beautiful together.

Sterling and Ruby in Fuchsite

I also shared on Instagram a pendant I had made a few weeks back. I dropped it and the cab/bezel popped off. The new small torch went in and tacked it right back in place!! This one has a good solid pin point flame the other one never had. The hubs did really really well!

That's about it for the week!

Thanks for stoppin by!

We'll see ya next week!

Bell Flower Earrings

Week 15 of Year of Jewelry is a sweet pair of earrings. Bell flowers made form little brass bells.

Once upon a time I used to get daily e-mails for the Beading Gem. I’m not entirely sure why I don’t anymore upgraded servers on her end or mine, I dunno. I don’t seem to get a lot of mail that I used to…. Anyway one of the last e-mails I remember was for a tutorial for some really sweet earrings. The original poster had tried to use bells but didn’t quite like how they turned out so she had dissected the bells to create her own. I actually liked how the bells looked so I stuck to that part of the tutorial in making my own. I may try the rest of it some day in the future but for now I’m happy with these.

Here’s the Beading Gem blog post

and the original post by Judy Larson

Thanks for stopping by!

We’ll see you next time~

Poetry and Daggers

Her broken heart never mended, the shattered pieces were stored.

She went about her life but her spirit never soared

She pulled the dagger from her heart so many years ignored.

She kept it to remind herself, of how her love was torn.

Drawing her last breath, her heart battered and forlorn. 

I love you still, she whispers, though her heart has been outworn.

~~ Dana 2016

Sometimes you need to dabble a little in other art forms. It’s been years ahem decades since I’ve written any poetry and this one started out much much darker. The kiddo didn’t like the way it flowed, so I’ve been working on it tweaking words here and there. I’m not sure if I’m done with it yet, I think I’m happy with the way it reads and I may write a sister poem of him, how empty his life was without her, the regret he felt at not stopping her, we’ll see. Maybe I’ll add some artwork, watercolor maybe or just a drawing. hmm I dunno. But it has been kinda nice to switch gears for a little bit.

This is week 14 of the  Year of Jewelry project. I missed last week - life happened and I kept thinking I’d get a post written all the way until it was time to write this weeks, and I just had to admit it wasn’t getting written.

Lima Beads had these really cool looking Tibetan horns  in their newsletter and they inspired the brass dagger I made this week. Originally I had thought I’d make up an arrowhead or a sharks tooth in brass and or copper  to hang from the stingray leather I got in that awesome box from Endless Leather but somehow this dagger (could be a claw now that I look at it lol) and its matching beads seemed perfectly suited.

I drew out the shape on some brass sheet, cut it out, annealed it, ran it through the embosser and then started dapping and forging the curves. And of course all edges have been filed smooth as well. I actually had a lot of fun creating the dagger and it allowed me to take a breather from all the tax stuffs and deep serious conversations with the hubs. We've needed to have them and it feels so good to really talk with him again. He has always been my rock and I'm so grateful to have him. 

Thanks for stopping by!

We'll see you next time!

Leather! I’ve Got More Leather!!

I received this glorious box of leather from Endless Leather last week.

 Just look at all the gorgeous goodies! I can’t wait to get in there and create some beautiful jewelry with it! You can’t really see it in these pictures but the cork has gold and silver in it, it is sooooo pretty! 

I have ideas, oh do I have ideas!!

Here I am with this box of gorgeous cords and still kind of stuck for an idea for this weeks Year of Jewelry piece. We even have color prompts for stuck weeks and that didn’t get the ball rolling. I looked on the desk at my UFO’s and meh I don’t feel like stringing, or weaving, I made simple earrings last week, what to do what to do? Hmmm what do I have left in this basket? Oh yeah! The embossed butterfly…… I wonder if some of the blue leather will match the turquoise color of the glass beads. 

Perfect match!

This is a Nappa Leather cord  and oh my, this is some of the softest leather I’ve ever felt, and it lays along the neck just beautifully.

I’ve got all kinds of ideas from bracelet wraps to necklaces for this gorgeous gorgeous stuff! You’ll be seeing lots more of this as I have a couple different colors and I’m really excited about using more of it.

Before I leave you for the week, let me share a little funny.

The hubs and I have been having some very serious discussions as of late, this morning was no exception. I got up walked over to him. Held his face in my hands and raised up to tip toes so I could look him in the eyes. I say to him "I love you. I need you to know that I know you have....F'ING CALVES!" Both calves cramp up dropping me to my knees, still holding his face in my hands we both twist over. The hubs cracks up, this intense romantic moment has been turned into much needed comic relief. He looks me in the eyes and says  " We are a pair, and this is our life"  I do love that man.

Cherish these moments, these are the ones that keep you going when all else feels lost.

Thanks for stopping by!

We'll see you next time!

on Building, or Finishing Another Room

Laying the tile in the Laundry Room

It’s been awhile since I wrote a post on the goings on around the house. Mostly because it’s been largely quiet. The weather wasn’t co-operating there for awhile for the outside projects and the hubs has just been too busy or too tired to work on the indoor projects. Which leaves me to do all the work and I start to feel unappreciated being the only one so everything comes to a stop. sigh

This last week the stars aligned just right and everything fell into place. Not only did the hubs get some more of the trim up around the doors, he capped the end of the wall in the kitchen - originally there was going to be a book case there but the wall is not just out of plumb it’s crooked. 

We’ve run into this a lot more than we should’ve. Never hire someone who wasn’t on the short list just because you have to wait on the ones who are on the short list - HAVE PATIENCE.

Anyway, so the bookcase was eliminated from the cabinetry and the pantry cabinet got bigger but that left the end of the wall unfinished. The hubs capped it, finished the trim on the outside of our bedroom door and started the trim around the doorway to my office. Best of all, we laid the tile in the laundry room! I think I mentioned I had started the tile sometime back and was just waiting on the hubs to lay down some more backer board so I could get to the end of the room before moving all the appliances across the room before working on that side. 

The hubs cleaning the tile after I grouted. I mopped two more times after that.

I asked if he wouldn’t mind and we just ran with it, got the whole room finished!! Yay! That’s two rooms 100% completely finished! I love my laundry room now! En suite bathrooms are next, flipping coins to see who gets to go first lol There has been some rumblings about not being able to use the bathroom while it’s being tiled - oh how quickly they got used to not having to share bathrooms!

Sterling Silver and Labradorite
Red Buds are blooming! There's a honeybee in the pic too :)

Year of jewelry, it’s week 11 and since I was busy with the laundry room I opted for something simple this week. Sometimes though, simple is just the ticket, I LOVE these earrings. Sterling silver and Labradorite, that flash is just gorgeous isn’t it? It’s one of my favorite gemstones to work with, and I never seem to buy it, I just don’t know why. I need to correct that and soon!

That’s it or today, Thanks for stopping by!

We’ll see ya next week!

on Creating Efficiency, a Theme on a Goal

My new posts will feature the things that inspired my jewelry.

One of my goals this year is to be more efficient with my time in order to free up more time for the family. 

I’ve noticed more posts on FB doesn’t necessarily equate to more interaction. In fact I increased postings before Valentines and my stats dropped. So a high frequency of posting isn’t necessary at all, but a good quality posting still is. 

I opened a Hoot Suite account for scheduling purposes but I still haven’t used it. I have however started working on putting together some posts and trying to work out a schedule that doesn’t put the same post everywhere at the same time - no one likes that either, or at least I don’t, maybe no one else actually minds and I’m just weird that way. What “my” audience does seem to really like are in progress shots and inspiration posts and gasp posts about me? lol I don’t know why that surprises me, but it does. I kind of like it though. It’s like I’m finally finding that little something I’ve been hunting for.

The whole less posting thing has freed up a bit of time for me, and I feel more productive with my time when I am online and posting. More importantly my family is happier with my increased presence and availability for them. And THAT is what it’s all about. 

Aventurine Gemstone Donut & Silver Stampings

This weeks Year of Jewelry piece is a green Aventurine donut adorned with silver plated stampings, a sterling rolo chain and a couple sweet crystals in a matching green. I believe this one is running off to live on the east coast fairly soon but if someone were interested in a similar necklace I can easily pick up another gemstone donut or two…. or more. As pretty as it is in Aventurine, think how sweet this could be in the soft pink of a Rose Quartz! Or how fun a composite Turquoise would look with it’s metallic veining! I might have to buy some just so I can play with it now, I wonder who has some Mojave Turquoise available?? What do you think? Blue, Purple, Green? Or the heavy black matrix with pops of blue/green turquoise? I am really going to have to check this out as soon as I'm done posting here.... or after I get back from the post office... customer service first, shopping second.

Thanks for stoppin by!

See ya next time!

on Looking Out the Other Window: Perspectives

This morning was gloomy. Dark and stormy, and I was feeling sad and lonely. I was reading my e-mail and drinking my morning coffee feeling smaller and smaller as my troubles started feeling overwhelmingly large. The tears began to fall down my cheeks and I was on the verge of a complete meltdown.

Something moved in the wind outside and I caught it out the corner of my eye. I had been sitting sideways in my chair facing the back windows, I turned to see what it was and there to the front of the house were plenty of blue skies and sunshine.

It’s funny how simply seeing the sun was in fact still there can immediately turn your attitude around. And I remembered something I said just the other day. Happiness comes from within, you can’t depend on someone else to create it for you. How you allow the words in your head to speak to you genuinely impacts your feelings. And since you are the voice in your head, you have control over what you say and hear.

I am dealing with some deeply personal things at the moment and I do need to allow myself to cry as it is part of the healing process but today it was largely the words in my head. As the skies got darker so did the negativity of those words. When I turned and saw blue skies, my spirits lifted and the words began to focus on the positives again.

Just a simple shift in perspective. Same sky, different view. A simple reminder the sun is still there. An invitation to send those clouds packing on a gust of wind.

I missed last weeks posting so you get double YoJ postings. I was really busy on the jewelry front last week and I’m hoping this is just the beginning of an upward trend. All indicators say it is and that’s definitely something to be happy about.

Weeks 8 and 9

Coral & Obsidian

Crystals Brass & Vintage Glass

Thanks for stopping By!

We'll see you next time!