Faux Jade and Baccarat

My necklace thought process summed up in the following. :) I picked up these beads a while back at Michael's and decided they would look great as a simple necklace with natural stone beads linking them. Since the stones are pretty hefty I used annealed steel and wire wrapping to make sure they were super secure and I was mostly happy with it but then came across something that remained me of Vegas which then reminded me of the Baccarat store at Caesar's Palace and the incredibly fabulous chandeliers they have (all with a red crystal signature) which, finally, led me to add this little red stone to the clasp. I love the bright burst of color and touch of whimsy that it adds to an otherwise fairly sedate necklace. And there you have it, my stream of consciousness necklace! :)

Tomorrow is back to work and I wish everyone a smooth return to post-holiday life!

Dolls, Dolls, Dolls

That's the theme for at least January in the studio! I finished the doll box I have been working on for a few days and have decided I'm pretty happy with the result. I had intended to do lots more to the outside of the box (homage to Lisa Kaus sort of thing) but in the end I just loved the antiqued finish and slight touches of sparkle.

Now, I have to work on projects to reduce down the German dolls a little bit. Thoughts? :) Also, if anyone has any terrific ideas on how to incorporate them as necklace centerpieces without them appearing to be hanged I welcome your input!

I had a terrific New Year's with the family in Kansas, although snow would've been perfect at least it was chilly, we've returned home to 70 degrees and sunny. Nothing left to do but fire up the grill and enjoy the new patio. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Mid-Afternoon Update

I decided I didn't have enough projects going so I'm starting on a necklace I've had in my mind for a while. This pic shows the madness that is my desk this afternoon. Clearly I thrive in chaos! :) My new favorite thing is peeking through which is my sigg bottle. This one is my favorite for home. I've really tried to give up the bottled water and filtered water in these bottles is actually pretty yummy.

I had to run an errand this morning and was able to listen to the Diane Rehm show. Today's show was about a guy who raised Akitas in Japan. As the owner of an akita I was hooked! This book sounds awesome and it's definitely being sent in the next round of Amazon purchases. Checkout her show online if you've got a chance. I've included a pic of Maya in case you need some inspiration. She's just too sweet - I'm not bias at all!

In Progress

This is my studio work top as it stands at 1:01 am (cst) and I'm considering trying to sleep again but it's probably hopeless. I've reached the tired but not sleepy stage and these couple of projects are helping my mind to race since they clearly need something but I'm not sure what and I can't move on to all the jewelry projects I want to work on until I clear at least a little space.

I am, however, thrilled to have found a product called "bangle bling" in the $1.00 bin at Michaels. I picked up about 7 packages: gold, silver and mixed colors. They're tiny sequin like things that I think have the perfect vintagey sparkly bling quality (similar to vintage swaravoski but nowhere near as pricey) that I'm convinced all pieces need. All was not well at Michaels as I was horrified to discover that they don't carry crepe paper. This is inconceivable (yes, this word means exactly what I think it does!) to me so that's my quest for tomorrow.

My other comfort, besides bizarre craft finds, is Abby who is never very far away. She's such a sweet girl, to me anyway, and is just a giant snuggle bug - except to the UPS guy (another cutie!) who she's convinced is storming the house with every delivery and requires her to go into full attack mode. He delivered something fairly late last week and we happened to be home. Abby got away from me and made it to the porch. He smiled the biggest smile and said he'd always wondered what she looked like since she always "talked to him" when he had something to drop off. Seriously, how cute is that? She sounds like a 500 pound ferocious beast with her hackles up and the "don't mess with my house" growl and bark but he just looks at as chatting. That is clearly a sign of the holiday spirit at work people.

Tomorrow, I hope to have pics of all the german dolls Rolland and I finally got settled. We did a little bit of eBay craziness and I think I've cornered the market on vintage white german dolls. I do become slightly obsessed with the idea that if I love something I need to have hundreds of that thing just in case catastrophe strikes and they're no longer available. Yes, this is a storage problem and I'm seeking help; mostly at IKEA. :)

New Year ... almost

We've made it back from our Missouri road trip in time to head north once again. This time to visit my fam in Kansas and ring in the New Year with them. Luckily, I've taken the week off to get packed and then rest up but Rolland has to work Monday and Tuesday so we're not heading out until the crack of dawn on Weds. so not much change from our typical routine. :)

I've got my to do list already for tomorrow and have slotted in lots of art time to get some fun things started. I've also started working on a goals sheet for next year (it's in excel and everything! Not sure when I became that girl but nonetheless I'm risking total nerdom & keeping it). So far it seems doable and not overly ambitious but we'll see how it goes come Jan. 15th!

I hope Santa was good to you and everyone's ready for the New Year whether it's a book, bath and early bedtime (my idea of heaven any day of the week) or a huge blowout bash be sure to make the most of those last minutes of 2008!

P.S. for all the other sci-fi/fantasy readers out there I've been devouring the Nightside series by Simon Green and can't get enough! I'm seriously ticked that I've been blowing off the Amazon recommendation for years on this one! After this I do feel like I need to do some "spinach reading". Any recommendations on books I should checkout that are good for me? :)

Wow, Christmas is almost here!

This year has really gotten away from me. I mean, I am totally wheels off in my shopping, wrapping, decorating, etc. We didn't even put up the big tree! I do have baby trees scattered throughout the house and two in the studio but the big tree just seemed like a lot to bother with when it's just us. I finished up shopping for gifts I had to give today... uhm, this morning! Seriously, I don't know what it is with this year but it definitely got the best of me. I  have big plans for next year though!

In the meantime, I've had some gorgeous girlies enter my life and just had to share. The lovely bottle beauty was made by the fabulous and lovely Maija and she is going to be the queen of the doll head collection I've got going on the shelf by my work desk. The other lovely little girl was made for me by Kecia in an exchange we did a while back. I just love this piece! Kecia creates pieces with these dolls like no one else!

Finally, pics are here!

We've been incredibly busy lately but we've had requests for photos of the new patio. If you're related to us and want to see every tiny detail you can check out the complete set of pics here. Otherwise, I've just included some highlights. :)

Woo hoo, Christmas is here!

I know because the annual 12 Days of Christmas exchange has officially started the countdown. Check out the lovely pressies all wrapped and just ready to open! Alas, a few more days until the paper can fly. :)

Puppies post day care

We're doing some back porch/patio re-modeling and the puppies had to go to puppy day care while the guys did some construction since they lost free reign of the yard and the puppy door. I think the day care was successful since they were pretty played out for the drive home!

This is also how I've felt most of the day. I think the last few days of running wild with no work have caught up with me and I've crashed on the couch in front of the fire and thought of all the things I should be working on but I'm giving myself a pass since this is what lists are for! I have made significant progress on cleaning up the studio and getting it back into working shape. I also made this fun little Christmas collage that made it's way into charms for a swap. I like to think that he's just looking for Santa to put the girl for him under the Christmas tree.

Spice Girl

Christmas came early out our house! I've had my eye on one of these sculptures that we saw once at the Nasher store and I've gone in every time we're at the mall just to see if it was back on display. But always out of luck. Tonight, they had a grouping of them as a window display and I just fell in love with this one. Who wouldn't?! Creepy doll head, crown, Queen Elizabeth, oh my! The sales associate was asking if we wanted the details and was explaining the history of the dolls coming from Germany (I'm familiar with this process :) ) and how the artist put it's together, etc and Rolland just said "Sold". I almost fell over. He truly is one of the best husbands ever! Now, she's all mine. Swing by and visit. She greets guests in the entry way!

Charms are on their way!

One of the exchanges I'm in includes swapping soldered Christmas charms. I think this little basket of charms is really sweet. I hope they make it safely and people like their charms.

I had lots of trouble sleeping so I've been up since 3 am. It seemed like the perfect time to play with glass and solder so I've been busy on a few new projects but now, I'm thinking a nap might be nice!

Studio Cheer

I've got the studio trees up and I love them! Every year I put the trees up and then like how they look so much I don't want to take them down until Easter! This year I added the china doll parts which my husband says makes them extra creepy. I'm ignoring him and adding them anyway. The smaller tree is also dressed in all vintage ornaments which I find super cute.

We have managed to get in a movie so far for the holiday break. We saw the new James Bond. The movie was decent and heavy on the M so even better. Judi Dench rocks. The new theme song - fairly awful. I usually love the opening sequence but I kind of hated this one. There weren't any especially good previews either so if you get down to the wire you're aren't missing anything here.

Now I'm off to watch some TV before heading to bed early.

Happy Thanksgiving

Everyone needs one of these for their studio. Maya is super cute and only one of the many things I'm grateful for this day. I hope you are surrounded by people that love you and you too have lots of good things for which to be grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Angel Necklace

I've been working on this piece for a while now. It started out as an experiment with patina-ing solder and then it was a hunt for the right chain and beads. I worked on stringing the beads in Omaha but felt like it needed more umph so I found some gorgeous sterling chain in a bead store, also in Omaha, (paid way more than I should've but I love it) and finally put all the pieces together. It's really simple construction but when I wear the necklace it's got the perfect amount of heft.

It's been a while since I pimped out a book here but I just started The Time Traveler's Wife

and I think everyone on the planet has known about it but me. I found it on the Doctor Who boards... yes I know, giant nerd, but it sounded good so I picked it up a while ago but just started. So far I'm incredibly hooked and have been loving it. In case you were looking for a traveling novel or a gift for a reader this one is my latest pic.

Hope everyone is having a lovely Thanksgiving-eve!

New Day New Post

I'm feeling much better about the world and my general state of well-being. Well, except for the part where I whacked myself in the head with the car door while trying to load the puppies in the car for doggie day care - seriously, clumsiest person on the planet. But even that doesn't have me down. Today's the last day of work before the holiday week and I plan to spend tomorrow with the puppies in the new studio. I've got tons of pics to show of the new construction on the patio, arty goodness and finally Silver Bella updates, whew! Big plans people, big plans!

But, in the mean time, I wanted to share a quick link with you in case you've been looking for a special way to give for the holidays. Kelly Rae Roberts has an incredibly inspiring story on her blog today. Check it out and if you have the means, give a little something to start the holiday season.