Winner!

I'm really sorry for the delay in a new post. It hasn't been to draw out the suspense I promise. Since we decided not to move, we basically had to move back into our current house so I couldn't get a path to the computer for a while. But now, we're good so Jan, you're it! Woo Hoo! My hubby drew your name so it's totally unbiased on my part! He's more than uninvested in anything art related at the moment.

I think I'm liking this giveaway thing! I get to make stuff or find things I've never used and give them to a new home and keep mine slightly less cluttered! Stay tuned for more fun things to come!

Victoria Magazine, Out of Africa and high school?

I've been reading Victoria Magazine since high school. I think I started with the first copy and I was totally hooked. I loved all things old and pestered the parents to get me a carpet bag for Christmas one year (Mom came through). I was going to carry it with me on all my travels starting with the Cotswolds. The area was also very popular with Victoria Magazine. Anyway, there was an article about Isak Dinesen the pseudonym of Karen Blixen. The magazine included images of her home in Denmark, fashions inspired by the movie "Out of Africa", gardens, etc. I had a skirt that I wore forever (until eaten by an escalator in my building. It's a hazard being 5'2 and wearing long skirts) with my white shirt and felt like I could be heading out on Safari any minute. All of this is a huge build up to the fact that even though I was madly in love with the images and the idea of the movie, I had never actually seen it. I knew all along it would be a serious romantic tear jerker for me since I'm a sap anyway. Finally, I broke down and watched it.

Clearly I'm the last person on Earth not to know how amazing it was! I loved all of it. It was beautifully shot, lovely costumes and incredible acting. OY! How could I have missed out on all of this? Yet, it was definitely a movie I refused to watch with the husband. I was having none of the mocking of the romance, the laughing during the dramatic parts, faux sadness at every turn. Nope, I watched it in hour snippets when he was away and I finished the final 30 minutes today. Now, I've got a copy of my own heading to me and I plan to spend some serious studio time while watching again. Meryl Streep had some gorgeous beads on in the film that I want to re-create. Nope, I can't help myself.

In case you find yourself with some time on your hands and want to get swept away to a foreign land with a lovely film, here are some of my favorites:

Out of Africa
Enchanted April
Tea with Mussolini
A Month by the Lake - it's worth it, just stick with it!
A Room with a View
Cold Comfort Farm
Widows Peak
Chocolat

Change in the humid, hot air

So here's some news. We've decided not to get the big giant pricey house but instead, we will be staying in our smaller reasonable priced home and keep our nice savings account (finally!). This is going to require a lot of lists to get the house unpacked and back into a livable condition. I think we'll do a little updating and home improvement along the way so I'll post some before and after pics.

Also, don't forget to leave me a comment. Only two more blog posts until the giveaway.

Happy Wednesday guys!

P.S. Since we're not moving we went ahead and signed up for Uverse so we'll have HD for the Olympics. Woo hoo!

Wishing of cooler climates

Today was fairly hot again and while watching Wimbeldon this morning, I was thinking about London and the fairly mild climate. I started going through some pics from the British Museum and came across these guys. Honestly, I have no idea which room they were in but I think they're awesome.

Somehow musing about London on the 4th of July weekend seems appropriate. Slightly irreverent but appropriate. :)

Late Night Post

Well, late for me. I'm taking advantage of the 31/2 day weekend to run wild and stay up past 9 o'clock! Woo hoo. But, I'm tired now so just a quick one before heading to bed. I wanted to share some of the new books coming out that I'm super excited about.

Taking Flight by Kelly Rae Roberts
Pretty Little Felts by Julie Collings - Julie is the co-founder of the Art Nest which has to be the most amazing art retreat ever!
Rejuvenated Jewels by Amy Hanna - I was lucky enough to attend the Art Nest when Amy was there as an instructor. Her class was amazing and she's really been an inspiration. I've been incorporating her techniques into a lot of my pieces now and I'm incredibly excited she's started a blog!
A Charming Exchange by Kelly Snelling and Ruth Rae
I can't say enough about how excited I am about this one. Kelly has been incredibly supportive and such an inspiration to me so I can't wait to get my hands on this book by these two incredible ladies.

That's it, I'm headed for bed to rest up for more Olympic Trials!

Happy 4th!

There's little excitement here today. I was scheduled to go to my friend Lara's for mani/pedis - that's how to celebrate the 4th with no kids and relatives in other states- but I had a flat tire that was a little bit of an ordeal so we're re-scheduling. Instead, we watched the Olympic Trials and the thunderstorm that has come and gone. Hopefully it'll help cool us off since I'm done with the hot, hot temps of Northern Texas. I've proposed the 4th be moved to Halloween so we could go trick or treating and then have snacks for watching the fireworks. Rolland was skeptical of this catching on with anyone.

Hope you guys are having an awesome day of parades, hot dogs, burgers, veggie dogs, fireworks and fun!

Puppy Portraits

My puppy portraits of Abby and Maya arrived today and they're awesome! Jennifer Christy did the portraits from a couple of photos I emailed her and they're perfect! I love that Maya looks slightly more serious than she does most times but she's got her leopard baby just to show she's a big softy bear. I met Jennifer at Urban Bazaar and talked to her about the portraits. She was terrific about following up, showing me what she had in mind and then letting me know exactly when they shipped. She's a pro and couldn't recommend her more highly. These would make an incredible present for the dog lovers you know. Christmas will be here any minute!

Lucky 13

Yesterday was our 13th wedding anniversary. We had agreed to no gifts but today I got this in the mail along with a necklace. I had shown it to Rolland a while back to add to his gift list (he keeps a list so when holidays, b-days, etc roll around he's ready). He just remembered it's the store I go into at the forum shops and always ahhh over but nothing makes it out because the price tags freak me out. Plus, I end up thinking it's all just too much (this earns me a look every time. Clearly he's not buying that I'm a girl that knows when to stop. I'm the girl who thinks I've reached the limit and then adds glitter!). Anyway, it was a great day and maybe I snuck him a couple of new PS3 game so we were even. :)

p.s. Just remember to leave me a comment and in 7 more posts I'll draw a name and then this could be yours!

p.s.s. If you've got a sec, check out my Mom's new Etsy store. She makes awesome jewelry and finds some really cool vintage findings to add to her work.

Necklace Quickie

I had fun on Friday night just playing in my studio with all the elements I had laying around my desk. I think every thing came from Silver Crow and I just had to put a few pieces together. I continued playing with the annealed steel and have managed to wrangle it easier. No pieces fought back although I have found my new fancy cutters really cut and I have to be careful to keep the cutting pieces covered so they don't go flying! Anyway, I love my new owl necklace and feel on top of the trend since I'm starting to see them everywhere... or at least on all the cool kids! ;)

p.s. don't forget to leave me a comment if you want to be included on the drawing for the 300 necklace... odd since I just watched that movie. Anyway, I think I'll give everyone until my 309th post then all the names are going into the pretty tin for picking by the hubby. Trust me when I say he's not biased, or incredibility interested, he's just a good sport!

Happy 300th Post!

As promised, on my 300th post I want to give something back to everyone who reads, comments and/or helps me feel like I'm not writing into a black hole! This is one of my favorite pieces with pink pearls (my favorite color), vintage religious medal (love all things old), soldered charm (yep, I'm pretty open about my love of solder) and a sterling clasp (becoming my favorite jewelry finding to make).

Just a leave a comment on this post with a way to reach you. If you want, share one of your favorite things (yep, love that Oprah episode!). Here are a few of mine:
1. Crazy Sexy Cancer is my favorite documentary - truly inspirational
2. Susan Wittig Albert writes my favorite mysteries
3. Top Gear - favorite show on BBC America
4. Deadliest Catch - favorite show at the moment
5. Favorite Shoes!

I'd give you my favorite movies but that list would just be too long!

Thanks for hanging around and finding me interesting, well, at least pretending to find me interesting!

Time in the studio!

I had fun cleaning up my space and make a few fun silly pieces. I also made my first pair of earrings that are wire wrapped around ruby jade. I used a low gauge annealed steel for the wires and high gauge steel for the wrapping. Luckily, I escaped any injuries this time! I really like them but definitely need more practice.

The lucky kitty necklace is a charm I got from Silver Crow and made with coral and a couple of accent green beads (also silver crow). I picked up some silver pagoda earrings at World Market just to wear them together. Clearly, I love a theme!

The pearl necklace was apparently strung a long time ago since I found it in a basket with beads, other pearls and thread. All I had to do was close the bead tips and add a clasp. I used a rhinestone piece I also found on the desk and formed a hook out of some extra sterling wire. Probably the quickest project I've ever made! I'm not sure if the pearls are vintage or not but they definitely have that feel to them and they'll look great layered with my other pieces.

Amy Hanna inspired necklace

I loved my class I took with Amy Hanna at the Art Nest. I've been trying to incorporate more found objects and wire wrapping into pieces and I had the perfect opportunity for my friend Suzanne's b-day. I made this piece with existing chain and then I had chained the string with vintage german crystal beads (very cranky to work with beads). This was also the first time I used annealed steel and it looks great (I think) but it definitely puts up a fight! The charm on the back of the piece is a religious charm and I love the image and color on the otherwise dark piece. I was really happy with the results on this one and have big plans for earrings this weekend!

Happy Father's Day

I haven't had a chance to get the new pics of the camera so this one from Christmas is it for now. :) We had a great time with the fam and it was awesome to spend some fun time together. Luckily, we missed all the bad weather and it was mostly beautiful with sunny blue skies and a cool breeze. Perfect Father's Day weather. I hope you had a great weekend Dad!

Sheesh, it's hot and busy around here!

We've been really busy sort of packing and going to the new house. They put up trim and the balusters which are only really important to us so no pics. :) I've been working on a couple projects but nothing completed yet. One of the pieces is a necklace and I'm using annealed steel for the first time. Yikes! So it's pokey and hard to bend but I love how it looks next to the vintage crystal beads (my supply is running low and I have no idea if I can get more. I'm trying not to panic). I did use one of my 50% off at Michael's coupons on heavier wire cutters and they work like a dream! It was the best 3 bucks I've spent in a while and I'm kicking myself for not having done it sooner. OY!

I'm packing ( a few clothes and a million books for the drive. Heaven!) up to head to Kansas tomorrow for a family reunion. My Mom and I are going junking tomorrow after I get there and I can't wait. We haven't really done this for years and she's one of the few people I know, and spend time with regularly, who doesn't mind sifting through all the gunky stuff to find something really fabulous. She's also scoped out some cool places she's been telling me about for a while so I'm really thrilled to finally be there in person. I may even take the fancy camera since I've been short on pics to post lately. I blame the heat. The 100 degree days (so it's really only 95 but I'm not letting that stop my exaggeration) sap the energy out of me and I just want to turn the air conditioner down to 65 (I know, I know, Rolland won't let me either) and get back into bed and stay there until winter.

I hope you guys have plans for a wonderful weekend! If you don't it's not too late to catch all the super cool shows on Sci-fi tomorrow night. I'm telling you Doctor Who can change your life. Plus, he's pretty to look at.

Booth photos

I finally got the pics of hubby's camera so I can show you some of the booth pics from last month's art fair. I added a few jars of dice and anagrams later but this covers most of it.

I'm working on a necklace for a belated b-day present that's taking longer than I thought but I'm hoping to be able to finish it in the next day or so. Plus, I've got some pics for my cowgirl swap to show!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!