the best season of your life.

"I thank You God for most this amazing | day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees | and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything | which is natural which is infinite which is yes"
e. e. cummings

(jewelry folder)

when I was a little girl I did not know that people could grow up to become artist
what is an artist any ways!?
I wanted to be a supper model and a mom!

well as luck has it the supper model thing did not work out for me, but the mom part did and I have two delightful teenagers in my life to remind me that dreams do come true!

2007 was a great year filled with tears and joys but for the most part it was a time for great personal and professional growth for me.

2008 in many ways is starting out much like 2007,
as I have a lot of wonderful activity's ahead of me,
the first one being that
at the end of this month I will be boarding a airplain
to film a segment for the second season of Quilting Arts TV
in Cleavland Ohio!
(so if your out there trying to find your artist voice, always remember to create from your heart, and believe in your creative soul and it will lead the way!)

(copper, brass and silver bangles )

when in Ohio Kim has agreed to be my city guild, and I can not wait to see her again as she was so sweet and made the drive out to Kelly and I when we were in Cincinnati last summer working on our book.

(side view of bangles)

once I am done in Ohio I will be off for a few days to spend some time with Deborah and teach a jewelry workshop In Chicago but mostly its all about girl time and catching up!

(inside of jewelry folder)

I have been busy editing my book and have not had much time for art, so I was oh so happy to get this package in the mail today full of inspiration from
my favorite place to get rubber stamps RED LEAD !
drool, drool! I can hardly wait to play!

I did make it into my studio today and I made this commissioned bracelet that is long over due.

I took photos along the way so you could see some of the steeps that it took to create this piece

first I cut a piece of silver then I drilled holes on both sides next I stamped on the names then I used my bracelet mandrel to arch the bar next I laid out the beads and strung them up lastly before I attached the bar to the bracelet I used liver of sulfur to blacken the letters then I buffed it up.


and here you have it all completed!

Ten thousand flowers in spring

the moon in autumn,

a cool breeze in summer,

snow in winter.

If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things,

this is the best season of your life.

~Wu-men

(oh my! this was a crazy all over the place post! its just that my life is a little overwhelming (in a good way!) right now so of course its going to reflect here in my blog! Thank you all for your support and kind words they truly mean the world to me!)

H A P P Y N E W Y E A R!

Change

If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. ~Mary Engelbreit

I cut my mid back length hair to a ear length bob in September and I must say that I am yet to make friends with my new hair so I decided that maybe some new cosmetics could help me accept it,

so I made a appointment at the Bobbie Brown counter last week, my favorite part of the make over was when the makeup artist said "you don't have on any make up on now.... right?" and I had to laugh and say well "yes I do have on makeup!" ...
so here you have the new me~


It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.
~W. Edwards Deming

Yesterday Kelly and I both received copy's of "a charming exchange" It was really exciting to see it at this point as it is more or less the book that you all will see (but it will be in color not black and white like you see here)
Last night with highlighter in hand I made it to page 30 marking all the little things that need to be changed... what is hard for me at this point is that I know how to do the projects so its easy for me to glaze over when reading the step outs... so as i read I try to see myself making the jewelry for the first time.

(new years parcels that I will be sending out to a few friends)

we only have a couple weeks with the book to make any changes then the book will move on to our Managing Designer Marissa where she gets to work her magic and make the book look all wonderful ( we are so lucky as sweet Marissa was also the designer for one of my favorite books "Sally Jeans Pretty Little Things")
The next time we see the book it will be to review it one last time before it goes off to print!

This Year has been so full with adventure!
I have been able to meet and work with so many creative and giving people!
and I must say that 2008 holds many more amazing adventures for me.
(after the first of the year I will share a few of them)
Thank you all for spending time to visit my blog, as when I stated blogging in November of 2005 a few years ago it was truly just a online journal for me to keep track of what i was doing... and along the way it some how almost became a part of me that only I knew.

I truly appreciate your support your words and encouragement they mean so much to me!
Have a Wonderful Happy Healthy Holiday and a Fantastic Creative 2008!

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. ~Anatole France


When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. ~Victor Frankl

fall down seven, stand up eight!

Give us the fortitude to endure the things which cannot be changed, and the courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to know one from the other.
~ Oliver J. Hart

I have been busy working on a few projects over the last few weeks
I am sorry that I can not share with you this book in its entirety, but I can share with you some of my creative process when I work on a large or small project.

for the most part I do start with a pallet... almost always have a theme be it a poem or image in the case it was the photos of my grandmother that I used as a starting point.
then I picked out some fabrics, I then begin to pull objects that complemented my theme

I have a vast collection of carved mammoth ivory, bone, and wood beads and a amazing netsuke collection that I pulled onto the mix. I could not stop myself so I add some vintage lace!

I sorted through my rubber stamp collection and put out some words that could be used, I pulled a old Japanese book off of my book shelf and I scaled down the size of my images and printed them out on silk and transparencies.

Now once I start working I get lost in the process so there are no photos to share but for the most part I will lay out all of my spreads play with them a little then I decided how I will connect all the parts together.

Now in the end this book has 10 pages counting the front cover and is compiled of four signatures
I also had to make up four spacers because my pages are very thick.


Here they are all stacked up so I can mark were my holes need to be punched out

and here is the view of all the signatures ready to be bind.

I used waxed linen thread and a needle because the binding was so thick

I also needed to use my awl to help me find my way to the end of each hole.

and here is my completed binding of this book.

and this is what the side view of the book looked like before I added a cleaver closer to keep the book under control!

in the end I would say that I only used about 20% of the supplies that I laid out from the "pallet" that I created and this is true of most of my work I tend to start out with a lot of possibility's then really edit things down and try to tell a story with my work.

Here are the last 2 pages of the book the image is one of my grandmother laying down on the grass and I could now help but use one of my favorite Japanese Proverbs:

" Fall down seven, Stand up eight"


Because in the end its always about Courage!

"I have lived on a razors edge. So what if you fall off,
I'd rather be doing something I really wanted to do. I'd walk it again."
~Georgia O'Keefe


Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.
~Robert Louis Stevenson

on the twelth day

Melissa David wrapped for me:
in this really fun "believe" paper
and I do believe this is the last day of a fun and wonderful swap!

and here we have her mixed media delight with so many layers and details! My night time photo
skills are horrific! so if you want a better peek take a look at Deryns blog. my favorite detail of this ornament was how cleaver Melissa was with the light bulb and how she put the scrap of paper with the word on it inside of the bulb!

“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.”

Saint Augustine

days 8, 9, 10 & 11!

oh my!
the days are getting away from me! I sat down last night and opened up 4 amazing gifts!

On the 8Th day of Christmas Pilar Pollock wrapped for me with
this lovely hand painted paper! I really liked how she sealed it all up so I had to rip it open to get the ornament!
and here it is!
this has a wonderful reflective quality and the image of Madonna and Child are printed out on silk . You can read about her process on her blog.


On the ninth day of Christmas Sally Turlington wrapped for me:

just look at the sweet little number nine with the bell with the velvet poinsettia!
WOW! Sally assemble filigree Lady's dancing! Sally has posted on her blog a story about her ornament along with the hidden meaning she has named each of the Lady's and I received




Patience (something that I truly need to work on so she is perfect for me!)


On the tenth day Jackie Allison wrapped for me...
with luscious red and green ribbons on brilliant #10 paper!
and inside was this stunner filled with goodies to make any mixed media girl smile! and to make it even butter is that this is a duplicate of the ornament that she had published in the article, 12 Days of Christmas Ornament Swap, in the November/December 2007 issue of Somerset Studio magazine!


on the eleventh day JoAnnA Pierotti of Moss Hill Studio wrapped for me!
oh me! oh my! it was very hard for me to open this up as it was wrapped to perfection!
but I some how made myself open it and was oh so happy that I did! for inside I found this lovely little lady all dressed up and ready to inspire! Joanna has posted a little on her process on her blog.
I must say that after going to the girls blogs and reading about the meaning behind there creativity truly makes each of the ornaments even more stunning!

Tomorrow I will be opening the last day!

“Sometimes you've got to let everything go - purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything . . . whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you'll find that when you're free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.”

Tina Turner quotes

on the seventh day

Lou McCulloch made for me:

The gift was wrapped in a cello bag with gold stars tied with a wonderful golden cord with the a hand made tag that is now on my tree!


In side I found Jolly old St. Nick!
I can not even tell you how this lovely creature was created....
it looks like Lou used some kind of paper plaster clay to create his face and the base could be a gourd... she used a cone that she covered in sheet music that she she altered with golden glitter and paint and it hangs from a gorgeous green satin ribbon!

Take a look at Lou's EBAY shop where you can buy her wonderful art!


Dr. Seuss: Creativity Quote
Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!

on the sixth day of Christmas

Kelly Snelling wrapped for me:

this magical parcel! Kelly used joss paper with a image of a egg from a vintage cigarette card, with twine in hand she bundled it all up in a mischievous way (that screams KELLY!)

Now I had to go out into my newly renovated zen garden to take these photos because of the amazing reflective quality of Kelly's painted multi layered ornament! this girl has one amazing way with color and layers!
And here is the back that she collage and painted!
Kelly has just opened up a etsy shop where she is selling her stunning conceptually soulful paintings along with her artfully hand made jewelry you must see her art with your own eyes!
Kelly has posted a detailed steep by steep tutorial on how she created her ornament!

A bird does not sing because it has an answer.

It sings because it has a song.

Chinese Proverb

I have been working on my studio the last few days tossing out and reorganizing, here is a peek of my jars and clear boxes filled with baubles of inspiration and once I am done I will give you a full tour of my space.


Organizing is what you do before you do something,
so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.
A. A. Milne

on the fith day of chrstmas

Jennifer Rowland gave to me:

the polka dots on this gift box made me so happy! and she used double sided tape!
(a girl after my wrapping heart! because we all know if you must use tape on your gift wrap then it best be double sided or well hidden!)
and look more polka dots inside!

now if this is the back what will the front look like!?

Jen, Resin filled miniature cookie cutters that are masterfully attached to a metal base covered with German book text (And I have been practicing my German because I will be visiting Sara this coming June in Austria!) there are so many great details on this ornament... right down to the lovely vintage key and lace!

And I must say that I really love the back! if you want to know more about Jen's process on her ornament make sure to take a look at her blog!
(tomorrow I get to open Kelly's gift!)

We are each of us an angel with one wing;
We can only fly by embracing each other.
~unknown