Stillwaters Art

I have just listed this necklace in my Etsy Shop. All proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders for Haitian Relief. It is made from re-purposed parts from some vintage jewelry that I had on hand and a very tiny scallop shell that I picked up at the beach in Florida last Friday.
It sounds as if there is a great outpouring of help to Haiti if they could just get the planes in with the supplies. I pray that the help goes where it is needed most.

Sunshine Skyway – Tampa, Florida

Hand felted wool bangles

Soldered charms

Repurposed wool felt cuffs

Tin and resin charms from vintage valentines and anatomical hearts.

I hope that everyone can make it to the show. Shawn always has something out of the ordinary for every customer…even the four footed ones.

Tigers eye, porcelain beads and focal, copper

Well…a bit of productivity has come forth despite the disorder in my studio. I have been moving out all of my storage and painting the walls behind it. This involves taking everything off of the shelves and sorting through the overwhelming amount of STUFF that I have accumulated. I have been wanting to reorganize for a while, so the start of a new year seemed like a good time to do it.Jasper, turquoise, carnelian, copper

The task is far from complete, but I managed to clear a spot on my work table to make some jewelry. Studio Thursday is less than two weeks away so I must get to work.
Here are two of my latest pieces.

I wish that my photography skills could capture this sunrise. I tried to alter it to show the colors, but did not succeed in duplicating it. These cold winter days make for great studio time. The outside warm sunshine is not beckoning me to play.
These are a couple of things that I have finished lately. The heart brooch above is copper and brass stitched together with copper wire. It is at Heart and Hands in Franklin.

This is a necklace that I made from one of the polymer clay pendants that Steph gave me. I think it looks like stone.

This colorful bracelet can be found at Cliques in Columbia.

In these weak economic times, there have sadly been a lot of empty storefronts in our town. Recently, a friend of mine called with an interesting proposition. He found someone who would rent to us just the windows of an empty store for a very reasonable price and he thought that it would be a great idea for several of us local artists could display our work there. It would not be a shop that was open to the public, but a sort of museum or gallery under glass for all to see as they passed by. We are including our contact information so that hopefully a bit of business will come our way.The ringleader of this gathering of artists is Mark Dillon. Mark makes beautiful, handmade wood furniture. Some of his work is historic reproductions and some is of his own design. Mark teaches carpentry and woodworking at our local high school. He has also included projects made by his students and hopes to encourage more young people to learn the craft through apprenticeship.
There is also Michelle Moraczewski who is the principle architect of MPA Studio, an architectural firm. She is also a wonderful artist who does landscapes, architectural renderings, and portraits in pastels and oils. You can see some of her work on the back wall.

Joining us also is Rick Pipkin, aka Ripkin, who does dog portraits with lots of personality, and also other subjects as well. You can see his painting of a person standing on the back left side of the photo above, and also a work in progress on an easel. Last Saturday, he was actually painting live in the window.
Blown up photos of my jewelry are hanging from tree branches like a mobile in both windows, with pieces of jewelry lying on some of Mark’s benches.

The unifying theme of the windows is the process of creating art. We have all included displays with some of the tools of our trade scattered about the window.

Here are some of mine, with photos from my studio and the materials that I use to create.
Our goal is to constantly have this display evolve and create interest. Through all of this we hope to increase an awareness of the arts, and especially of local artisans. Our downtown area is so beautiful and quaint that it has been the location of at least two movies, (Daltry Calhoun and the most recent Hannah Montana movie.) It is sad to see it so empty. Who knows…maybe arts can revive our beautiful town.

I picked up several vintage watch cases when I went to the flea market last month. This is what they became. The one with the face is encased in UTEE and the Eiffel Tower one is just open beneath the glass with tiny pearls rolling around inside. These will be for sale at Cliques.

I was recently inspired by an article in Belle Armoire Jewelry magazine to create this little house necklace. I chose a Paper Whimsy face to look back out at the world from inside the little house and the word “secret” from an old child’s reader.

After finishing that, I spied this little spoon on my work table and having the faces close at hand, was inspired to make this pendant. It would also be possible for me to do custom pieces for people with their ancestors or children and make them look vintage as these photos do.
The necklace above was the first thing that Steph gave to me as we waited for her luggage at the baggage claim at the Nashville airport. It is a cowgirl in resin with ribbons and lace. It always is a conversation starter when I wear it.When we got home, she opened her box of goodies that she brought and out came this gorgeous necklace that I had seen on her blog, but had no idea that it was intended for me. I love the colors and that I can wear it with just about anything.

She and I are planning a necklace round robin for the new year with a couple of other artists. I can’t wait to see the results!

These are my newest creations. The green I am referring to is not only the color, but the fact that other than the stones, this jewelry was made from recycled materials. The copper sheet is leftover roofing copper given to me by a friend who does construction and the wire is stripped electrical wire leftover from wiring a house that we built. Take the basic raw materials and transform them. I love to make a sketch and watch that concept become reality.

I had a blast making these necklaces for Studio Thursday this month. The crowd there is mostly animal lovers so I chose these collages that I made for a swap a couple of years ago to use for the pendants. The sale was a great success! I feel blessed to get to sell my jewelry despite the slow economy. Thanks always to Shawn for including me in her fun and unique sale. The next Studio Thursday will be in February.

The next necklace is made from beads that Steph showed me how to make when she was visiting. They are polymer clay faux turquoise and cane beads. It looks like chunky, substantial stone beads, but it is very light and comfortable.All of my spare time lately is spent in the studio creating new work to take to Cliques and Heart and Hands. More to come…

Photo Credit: Frederick Breedon/Getty Images

Tuesday I had an interesting phone call. I person named Joey wanted a copper and turquoise bracelet to wear to an awards ceremony. I was surprised to learn that it was Joey Feek, the female half of Joey and Rory. Needless to say, I set aside my house cleaning and went straight to my studio. I had a delicious piece of turquoise that needed just the right person to wear it. I made this bracelet and earrings specifically with her in mind.

I met her and Rory yesterday and they are very friendly, down to earth people. She seemed to be delighted with her piece. It was just the dramatic accent that she was looking for to go with her buckskin dress that she was wearing to the CMA Award Ceremony. The top picture was snagged from the CMT.com website. If you zoom in, you can kind of see the bracelet.

Check out their songs on their website. I know a couple of new songs that will be going on my Ipod now. Living near Nashville is always interesting. You never know who you will meet.

After two years of corresponding by email and trading jewelry by mail, I finally got to meet my friend Steph (aka Vladthebat) face to face. On the Thursday before last I picked her up in Nashville at the airport and with sadness dropped her off this past Friday morning. We spent a week of creating in the studio and exploring Middle Tennessee. The weather was on its best behavior, as we had a whole week of sunshine and warm temperatures.
She brought goodies along with her… a wealth of interesting raw materials for creating, two really cool necklaces (I’ll post the necklace pictures next time), and enough Belgian chocolate that should have last me for months. The supply of chocolate is now dwindled to a handful of pieces. I shared a little, but it should be declared a controlled substance. I can’t stop eating it. One morning she even made Belgian waffles for us.
In the studio, it was so interesting to see someone take the same materials that I have been looking at for months and take them in a totally different direction. I had a bowl of flat stones that I picked up while kayaking and and she picked one up and immediately started carving a design in it. So then we both started carving stones. That night I got the idea that we should etch some of the copper to match the stones so the next day we spent several hours experimenting with etching. Here is a bracelet in which I combined Steph’s stone and my copper etching.
And another piece where I stamped a face and etched it. I have to experiment more with my etching solution recipe to keep from getting it too strong.
Throughout the week my creativity got a much needed boost that hopefully will last a while. I needed it to get ready for Studio Thursday coming up this week. It will actually be 3 days this month for the holiday sale. Check it out at Silo Studio’s website.

Our lives are so much richer now that we have a new friend and I am planning a visit to Belgium in the not too distant future.

On Friday I spent a very enjoyable afternoon at the Nashville flea market finding some new inspiration for my jewelry.

My favorite bead supplier was a great source for natural stone beads and turquoise cabochons,

At other vendors I found some interesting silver plated spoons and watch cases.

Now it is time to put my nose to the grindstone. The Silo Studios Studio Thursday is just a week and a half away and a new place has started carrying my jewelry. Heart and Hands is a shop in Franklin, Tennessee that carries only Tennessee made crafts. I just sent a load of jewelry there and now it’s time to make more for next week’s show.
Here is a little sample of what I sent to Franklin.

Also, I entered my eyeball bezel necklace (in the last post) in a contest on the Objects and Elements website. The winner gets a package of goodies from their store. The voting starts on Monday is you would like to help me out with a vote.
Thanks to all!

I was looking around my stash of random junk in my studio and wondering what else would fit in a bezel. I had a jar of sand worn seashell pieces that I picked up several years ago in St. Augustine, Florida that were waiting for their home in a piece of jewelry. They were an easy fit, along with a quote by my friend Shawn. “She dreamed of warm winds and salty skin.” It seemed like a perfect match.
What other unusual object could I find…..hmmmmmmm….what about that glass taxidermy deer eyeball that had been staring at me for a couple of years? Let’s see if that would work. With a little bit of grinding on the back, I managed to get it to fit into a bezel too. A little creepy…I know.

Next, something less creepy…some little brass birds on copper with lapis lazuli and brass beads.

Now, it’s off to my studio for more fun! I love my job!

Animals never cease to amaze me. It is good that I live out in the country, because they are all around me…my own and the wild variety. The picture above is wild turkeys and Canada geese sharing a meal together beside our house.
This little guy has made my hanging planter a home and captures insects from his perch. He looks like a little metal sculpture that has developed a beautiful patina.Even the dogs like to join in on the chores. Every time I start the mower, Milo comes running. He thinks that it is his job to keep me company while I mow. Maggie thinks that it is her job to get in the way and chase grasshoppers.
This is Bella’s favorite sleeping position. I don’t know how many photos I have of her in this position. I can’t resist snapping a picture.
I’ve always loved fossils ever since I was a small child. The playground of our elementary school was full of fossils and I’m sure I worried my mother by coming home with pockets full of them. I’ve had a pair of these ammonite fossils for a few months and had experimented with various ways to showcase them and I finally settled on a bezel setting. I will sell one and keep one for myself.

The starfish on this necklace is a pewter button from a dress that I bought at the thrift shop and threw away the dress and kept the buttons. A reminder of my favorite place…the beach.

I recently was inspired by a post by Julie (IsThereAShadow Aug. 9 post) to attempt to do some bezels again. I learned to do bezels when I was in college many moons ago, and for some reason I thought that because I didn’t have a fully outfitted shop like we had at college, that it would be too difficult to do with my limited tools. I also had never tried them in copper, only in silver. I’m glad I tried it again because I have really enjoyed the process. I love the way the copper is so malleable and forms itself around the stone when I gently hammer it. Here are my first two attempts. More will come.

I am enjoying a few nice cool days in the middle of August. I guess that the cool weather is influencing my jewelry with an autumn flavor. Here are a few new pieces that I have completely lately.

I’ve been doing a little drawing practice. Several years ago, I found an interesting way to help people who are not comfortable drawing faces. I’ve used this in my classes when I teach children and they sometimes amaze themselves, even if they thought they couldn’t do it. Take a photo an cut it in half. Glue it to your paper and draw a mirror image of the other half of the face. I loved the expression on this woman’s face. She was so fun to draw. Why don’t you try it and post your results and let us see?
Here also is a necklace that I just finished that kind of goes along with the African looking theme. It is copper, jade, and recycled magazine page beads.

Last week I finally got to go somewhere that I’ve been curious about for years. My niece, who is visiting here from Paris, asked if I wanted to go to The Farm. It is one of the original hippie communes. The founding members left San Francisco over 30 years ago to build a utopia in rural Tennessee. The commune concept didn’t work out, but the land is held in trust by the community of like minded individuals. They promote peace, vegetarianism, sustainable building and power, have a soy dairy, have their own school, publishing company and many other interesting endeavors.
I remember seeing the long caravan of brightly painted school buses pass by our house on their way to Summertown in 1970 or ’71. It was definitely the talk of the county. They have contributed a great deal to our area since they’ve been here.
We went to the Farm Store which sells a good selection of health foods and books and toured the museum. We had a long chat with one of the original residents. She was a fountain of information about their history.
One of the coolest things that we saw is called the Wholeo which is next to the school. Completed in 1974, Wholeo Dome is a 14-foot-in-diameter, 7-foot-tall geodesic dome covered with curved, stained glass panels. A couple of the panels were away being repaired because last year someone vandalized it. 🙁 We could not go inside of it, but it was inspiring to look at none the less.
Last week’s Studio Thursday was a great success. Now I have to get to work to get ready for next month’s sale. When I dropped my jewelry off for the sale, Shawn had a picture of a necklace that she wanted me to make for her. This page came from the Belle Armoire Jewelry magazine. I’m not sure who the artist was. I took a photo of my piece on top of the page. On the left hand side is my interpretation of the design. It was fun combining the stained glass with the vintage spoon and by coincidence, I had an earring almost identical to the one in the picture to use as a frame for the face. Next time I will try something a little more original, but using the same concept.

Okay…I know it’s been summer for more than a week, but one thing that really makes it feel like summer to me is a trip to the drive-in theater. My hubby and I had a date last night and went to the local drive-in to see the new Transformers II movie. We like to go at least a couple of times each summer to this rare piece of Americana. The movie was fair, but the ambiance was priceless. I always forget to bring my camera, so this photo was taken with my cell phone.

I’m starting to get a few veggies from my garden. Here is today’s harvest, along with Mr. Squashman. I couldn’t resist playing with my food.

Hollyhocks and gladiolas in front of my chickenless chicken house.

I finished a few pairs of earrings. The top two were recycled from steel cans, cut and hammered. The bottom left ones are made of hammered, light gauge brass, and the copper woven ones were inspired by a project from this month’s Jewelry Artist Magazine. These will be for sale at this month’s Studio Thursday at Silo Studio.

I don’t know why I always think every year that summer will be less busy than the rest of the year. I’ve been so busy that the time is flying too fast. My favorite time of year is going by in the blink of an eye. There’s never a dull moment though.

After getting back from our trip, I painted a mural at church for the children’s classroom area. There is a stage with windows where there will be puppets that is supposed to look like a ticket window for a subway or train and a guy just hanging out by the phone booth reading a newspaper.

Gardening takes up a bit of the time too. We have tomatoes, squashes, cucumbers, chard, corn, okra, beans, peppers, and lettuce. Also, we have some fruit. Our blackberries are ready to get ripe and one of our paw paw trees is loaded with fruit. So you’ve never seen a paw paw before? Here they are. They taste a bit like banana pudding when they are ripe. The trees were a gift from my very generous sister. 🙂


I’ve been making jewelry when I get a chance. A bit here, and a bit there, mostly commissions for local people. Here are a few pieces that I made for a friend who brought me some pearls and leather to make into necklaces and earrings for her.

I’ve been entertaining nieces also for the last two weeks. Last week, we picked up one of our nieces who was homesick at camp and brought her home with us for 3 days until my mom could come and get her and take her to her parents. This week I had a niece and a great niece for three days also. It was like Camp Stillwaters for all of those days. We did art, played pool, and fished and swam. It was great to get to spend some time with them.

I was surprised when I went to the mailbox one day to find a package from Steph in Belgium with this beautiful necklace and other goodies. She always sends such wonderful surprises. Please check out her blog and Etsy shop to see more beautiful jewelry.

Well… now for a relaxing weekend…I hope.

Sorry for the long blog absence, but I was away for a few days. My husband and I and our younger son and his wife went on a trip to South Carolina to visit my older son and his wife. They have only lived there a little over a month and so this is the first time we’ve been to that area. The first day, we went to Hunting Island which is a nature preserve. I understand the several movies with jungle scenes have been filmed there. It was wonderfully lush and green and the closest thing to a jungle that I’ve ever been in. We walked through sprinkling rain to a beautiful lighthouse that was completed in the 1880’s.

One day we sent the guys off to fish and the girls and I went to Hilton Head to an art show. There were lots of very talented exhibitors and I met a mosaic artist whose work I have admired for years. Steve Terlizzese calls himself the Mosaic Guy and lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It’s strange that I had to go to South Carolina to meet an artist from my home state.
On the long ride home, I played in my sketchbook. This is a mixed media collage using some of the materials that I picked up along the way.

I have managed to make a little jewelry since I’ve been home, but I keep wanting to do something a little different. I think I will start on a painting for my hubby since his birthday is next week.

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This is a waterfall coming out of our hillside. We don’t always have a waterfall, but when you get over 6 inches of rain in 3 days this is what happens. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a waterfall like that year round? Even though we didn’t see the sun for almost 6 days, I am thankful that now we won’t have to be so careful with our well water this year. We have had so much drought that many people locally had their wells go dry.

Rainy days make good creative days.

Sometimes I want to branch out and do something a little different. I had bought these shadow box frames a couple of years ago and hadn’t really come up with a use for them until now. I was inspired by the shadow box creations of Stephanie Rubiano on her site: So I Gathered. The first one is my mom when she was little. I am not implying that she was a “smarty pants” but it just seemed to go with the school theme.

The next one is some long forgotten ancestor whose photo I found in my aunts photo collection. I have no idea who she was, but I hope that her expression was only temporary and not how she looked all of the time.

Well….I didn’t want to say anything prematurely, but…I got something published! A couple of months ago, Cloth Paper Scissors magazine sent out an email call for works that were Mother’s Day or Father’s day related. I had this altered tie that I did as a tribute to my dad and so I emailed them the picture. They emailed back and asked me to mail them the original and…the rest is history. I just got my issue today in the mail and I was so excited to see that I got an entire page! I thought I would be just included in a group on a page.

This was the first time that I ever submitted something and was not very confident that they would be interested. That just goes to show you… you never know. Give it a try! Take a step of faith. It could be you next time.

So…run, don’t walk to your nearest bookstore and get the May/June issue of Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine.

This is a necklace that I made a while back and thought that I had posted a picture of, but after looking at my earlier posts, I discovered that I hadn’t. The focal point is a cabochon of yellow turquoise that I bought at the Nashville flea market a couple of months ago. I just added it to my Etsy shop.

I went back to the flea market last Friday and loaded up on gemstone beads but now that I have them at home, I’m at a loss for what to do with them. Did you ever go grocery shopping and come home and fill your pantry and refrigerator and then not know what to make for dinner? That’s how I feel.
I’m hoping that it will all come together at some point. I’ll find just the perfect piece to spark a connection with the other materials that I have on hand and tada! it will just about make itself. Sometimes I think that I don’t really create the art, but the materials tell me what they want to become. Not literally, but it kind of works that way. If I try to force it, I usually don’t like the outcome. Maybe it’s just a Spirit thing.

After the drought of 2007, I don’t think I’ll ever complain about rain. This has been a rainy spring and I love it! Our pond is full and everything is getting green.

Small harvests feed the soul.
Unexpected things sprout from gardens and flower pots.Despite the beautiful warm weather luring me outside, I have managed to do some creating. I wanted to do something other than jewelry. I had some scans of collages that I have done, that I printed onto iron-on paper and transferred onto muslin. Then I sewed them onto some canvas along with some paint and trim and made purses.

Stop Worrying and Start Living

Time Flies Be Happy

No Pouting

If you’ve been watching the news at all, you may have heard that we have had some tornadoes here in Tennessee. The worst ones hit about an hour away from my house and the most damage was in my sister-in-law’s neighborhood. They were not at home when it hit, but her mother-in-law was at the house and found shelter in a bathroom. Windows were blown out and the inside of the house is plastered with glass, dirt, and grass. The roof was raised and the house shifted on its foundation. Their neighbors weren’t so lucky. Here are pictures of the houses surrounding them, or what’s left of them. Amazingly, in the whole area, only two people were killed.

This house next to them was moved 15 feet back off of its foundation.

The one behind them lost its upper story and the one beside that was totally destroyed.

We went to help them move out to a temporary home. The response of the community was heartwarming. Several times during the day, groups of people would come by and offer us food and drinks. It is great to see how people come together during a crisis.

Amidst all of the excitement, I have managed to get some work done.

Recycled Spoon Bowls

Be Thou My Vision

Hands reaching out

A snow covered mountain

What a gorgeous day! Saturday was a lazy, restful day and the clouds were amazing. I had to do a little day dreaming, watching them drift by. What do these remind you of? Remember lying on your back in the grass and watching the clouds as a child. The grass was a little damp, so I laid on the bench on the patio and took this video.
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Clouds are one of my favorite subjects to paint. Here is a cloud picture that I painted several years ago of just before sunrise in front of our house.

Also, here is the most recent painting that I did for my DH’s office.

Last weekend, when the family was here, my DIL took pictures around the farm. This picture of Maggie kissing Bella (or was she tasting her?) was so precious I had to post it. To see more of her beautiful photography check out Zebrainfusion.

I have managed to get a little work done amidst all of the disruptions of the past couple of weeks. Here is a new necklace that I made using one of the turquoise cabochons that I bought at the flea market.

My father-in-law passed away Sunday evening after a long battle with cancer. All 10 of his children were there with him on the day that he died, though not all at the moment that he died, an amazing accomplishment.

Here is the obituary as it is posted on the funeral home website:
Dr. “Wil” Wilbur H. Scheitel, 78, well-known chiropractor, died Sunday, March 15, 2009 at Alive Hospice of Nashville after a long bout with cancer.

The family will visit with friends Saturday beginning at 12:00 p.m. at Oakes & Nichols concluding with a memorial service at 2:00 p.m. with Rev. Robert Lewis officiating. Members of Columbia Masonic Lodge #31 will conduct Masonic Rites following the memorial service.

Memorials may be made to Alive Hospice of Nashville, 1718 Patterson Street, Nashville 37203. Notes of sympathy may be sent to www.oakesandnichols.com.

Born in Falls City, Nebraska, he was the son of the late Elmer Scheitel and Amelia Zimmerman Scheitel. He was a graduate of Falls City High School, Peru State Teachers’ College and Palmer Chiropractic College in Davenport, Iowa. For several years, he taught high school in Norton, Kansas and coached football and basketball.

Dr. Scheitel came to Columbia and owned and operated Columbia Chiropractic Clinic for over 20 years. He also was former owner of Hillwood Chiropractic Center and founded and retired from Family Industrial Health Center.

Active in civic and community affairs, he was a member of the Rotary Club with 25 years of perfect attendance, was honored as a Paul Harris Fellow, Columbia Masonic Lodge #31, Order of the Eastern Star, and the United Methodist Church.

Dr. Scheitel was a member of the Tennessee Chiropractic Association, served as President, and in 2006 was honored as “Chiropractor of the Year” for over 50 years of practice and contributions to the field of chiropractic.

He will be greatly missed by all.

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After a snowy weekend last week, we had a mild weekend this past week and today I was wearing shorts and flip flops. It was delicious. Tonight the moon is full and the frogs and toads are performing a symphony in our front yard. Click on the video to hear the chorus. That will change tomorrow. Back to cold weather and rain. 🙁 The frogs will go back to sleep for a while.

I have managed to make a few new pieces from the items that I bought at the flea market. Here are some of the creations.

This necklace includes a jewel tintype from the 1800’s

Inside the purse are little pieces of history.

This necklace is color enhanced turquoise and coral with polymer clay beads.

This is flattened spoons.

My jewelry will be at Silo Studio this Thursday for the monthly Studio Thursday show. If you are local and have the time, check it out. Shawn has been her usual creative self and there will be lots of her fun furniture and accessories for sale also.

This has not been a very productive few days, but every once in a while one needs to refuel. That’s what I’ve been doing and hopefully it will pay off with more productivity in the week to come.

Friday was the beginning of the refueling as I went to the flea market in Nashville with Shawn from Silo Studios. She is a flea market pro, while I am just a novice. I hadn’t been in years, but I’m hooked and plan to go back often. I found a vendor with a wonderful selection of beads and stones and bought several and also a vintage leather change purse and some rusty old keys that will become a new necklace.
Saturday was a rest day and a visit to our son and daughter-in-law’s house. By the time we left their house, it was starting to rain and snow. By late evening the snow was coming down fast. We woke the next morning to at least 8″ of snow! That is very rare here to have that much snow.

Before lunch we got a call from my sister-in-law that they were bringing their kids to sled at our house.
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They live an hour away and had only had a sprinkling of snow so they headed to where there was plenty. We had a great afternoon with the kids, sleds, dogs, and ATV.
It was fun to play for a day and to have children around again. They bring life to where ever they go.

After I finish this post, I’m going to get to work….I promise…..really…

I just bought the book “Living Out Loud, ActivitiesTo Fuel A Creative Life” by Keri Smith. You can check out her blog at Wish Jar. The first activity listed is:
1. Doodle wildly (try new colors or techniques)
so I grabbed a new sketchbook to start my journey and doodled.
I used oil pastels, watercolors, and sharpie marker and then I scanned it and opened it in Photoshop and altered it four ways and pasted them together. Here is the result. The one in the upper right corner is the original.
As I was doodling, I listened to an interview with Jafabrit on Dirty Footprints Studio Talk. I like to keep both sides of my brain busy.

What a beautiful sky I awoke to the day before yesterday. The old sailors saying, “Red sky at morning, sailors take warning” couldn’t have applied to the rest of that day. It was a calm day, but yesterday, on the other hand was wildly windy. I could hear trees cracking and falling in our forest and trees were down on our road. Thankfully, they were not blocking the road.

“FAITH is the SUBSTANCE of things UNSEEN”

I got a little work done before I had to go to town. One piece is a copper necklace that I have had the components of for several months, but just didn’t take the time to assemble it until today. I’ve been having a little trouble getting inspired lately, and I thought if I finished those little unfinished projects lying around that it would free my mind to create.

The other is another of my fused glass pendants made into a beaded necklace.

Also, last night I watched “Craft In America” a three part series made for PBS about the artists, origins, and techniques of American crafts. It was a beautifully filmed, inspiring documentary. I think that watching this will kick start my creativity and make me more focused on craftsmanship. It is available through Netflix.

Floral Dance

I just added some new pieces to my Etsy shop. They are kind of all over the place when it comes to style and materials. I just do what strikes my fancy at the moment.

Flying Dog

Linked Hearts
(Made from recycled electrical wire)

Last evening, I had the pleasure of attending a gallery show entitled, Revisited: an exhibition of works by retired Middle Tennessee State University art faculty. One of the artists is my uncle David LeDoux, and two of the others were instructors of mine while I was going to school there. Here are a few of David’s paintings. Please excuse the glare from the lights. My pictures don’t do justice to the vibrant colors. For contact information you may go to his Thistle Hill website.
Another of the artists is Klaus Kallenberger, who was my metals instructor for silversmithing and enameling. He had a few pieces of his silver jewelry and some small intricate sculptures on display, but says that he no longer does much metal work because it is so hard on one’s hands. He now focuses on quilting. Here are two of his beautifully complex quilts. His quilts have been displayed at the Nashville International Airport and other galleries.

Ollie Fancher was one of the other artists and he was my graphic design teacher. He wasn’t at the reception, but there were two of his mixed media drawings on display. Unfortunately, they were under glass and I couldn’t get a good photo because of the glare.

I also had the pleasure of renewing an acquaintance with Elder Jones who does wonderful concrete sculptures. I had met him at a craft fair at Centennial Park in Nashville several years ago and I found out last night that he is a neighbor of my aunt and uncle. Small world. I learned about his work before I met him, in the book Creating With Concrete by Sherrie Warner Hunter, who is also a Tennessee artist. Check out his website Sand Pudding to see his work. I am hoping to be able to take one of his workshops this summer. I think that would be a blast!

Some days I love my mailbox…the days when it is not all bills and junk mail. I love it when I pull surprise packages out with beautiful necklaces like the one that Steph (vladthebat) sent to me. She makes such wonderfully smooth and colorful polymer clay beads. Check out her blog. There is always something interesting.

Another thing that is exciting to me is to get to spend the day creating with another artist. On Wednesday, I went to Silo Studio to hang out with my friend Shawn and let our imaginations have a play day. We had no agenda other than to have fun and create. The weather threatened to cancel our plans, but I was determined to go. What’s a little sleet and snow, when there is creating to be done.
It took a little while to figure out what we wanted to do, but we ended up with two projects each that took shape by the end of the afternoon. Here are photos of mine:

This is a very large belt buckle. I will have to find a belt to go with it.

This is an art doll made of a vintage metal jello mold, wooden spindles, old license plate number, wooden doll coat hanger, paint brush, beads, and a dog head picture. The dog head was inspired by the fact that we were surrounded by dogs in the studio. Two were so small, you could hold them in your two hands, and one was gigantic. Shawn has three of her own dogs and is a dog foster parent, so there are usually extras there. There are always plenty of wagging tails around.
Here are Shawn’s pictures that she just emailed to me:

The buckles are made with metal buckle blanks, paper, beads, a vintage earring, and resin.

I finally got to work with a couple of new things that I’ve been wanting to get my hands on. The first thing is a bisque doll body that was unearthed in Germany after being buried for almost a hundred years on the grounds of a doll factory. I bought the doll from my friend Julie (isthereashadow) in Australia and had first seen the dolls in the work of Nina Bagley. The history of the dolls intriqued me and I wanted to have one of my own to experiment with. I kept it around for about a month before I decided what to do with it. I had a vintage broach that reminded me of a wing, but I only had one, so as I pondered, the phrase, “a wing and a prayer” came to me. I stamped a silver rectangle with the word “prayer” and then I remembered a vintage silver plated cross that Steph (vladthebat) from Belgium had sent me, and so the piece started to come together. The parts came from all around the world and ended up in Tennesse to become this necklace.

The next new thing is that my hubby got me a doming block (did I spell that right? dome-ing) I had been wanting one for quite a while. I had seen jewelry made from domed bottle caps. I love using found objects for my art and I have a large collection of bottle caps. People save them for me and also I get many from a local country store that has a bottle opener on the door to the store with a container to catch the caps. They must think it is strange when I come in and ask to empty their caps. One day I’ll have to show them what I make with them. The bracelets and necklace that inspired me were made by Ron Pascho and are seen in the Lark book: Fabulous Jewelry from Found Objects.
The book has inspired many of my pieces. I highly recommend it for technical, as well as creative inspiration. Here is my bottle cap necklace. The bottle cap pairs are tube riveted together.

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful start to the New Year. My hubby and I got to spend the evening with one of our sons and his wife, and some other family and friends. We decided to leave before midnight because it was over and hour drive and made it home by 12:05, so we had to stop on the road and kiss and say Happy New Year. Thankfully, it was a deserted country road. The dog woke me up at 8:30 this morning wanting out, so I thought I’d take advantage of the quiet time and type this post.

I have been a very bad girl for the last few weeks when it comes to keeping my blog updated. Over the holidays, we had company for about 2 weeks straight…not the same ones the whole time. First visitors were some friends of ours that do music missions at different places around the world. Their home bases are in Wales and Israel. They kept us entertained and uplifted with beautiful music while they were here. Their website is Mishkanim and you can listen to some of their music there. This video is Howie playing his bouzouki (I’m not sure if I spelled that correctly.) He would get up every morning and sit down and start playing music. The video was taken with my digital camera and not a video camera, so the sound quality leaves a lot to be desired.

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

The rest of the guests were our kids coming and going throughout the holiday.

I did manage to get a little artwork done. My first inspiration was a new toy/tool that I discovered. It is a small kiln that you can use to fuse glass in your microwave. Can you imagine that! I just had to buy it. It takes just two to three minutes to melt the glass. After that, the most difficult part is having the patience to wait 30 minutes to open the lid. You have to let it cool gradually with the kiln closed. The kit came with everything I needed to make jewelry right when I got it home. It is called Fuseworks. This link is for the manufacturer that sells them only wholesale, but I bought mine at Hobby Lobby. Here is a necklace that I completed using a pendant that I made.Have a happy, healthy, prosperous, peaceful, and creative New Year.

We got an unexpected surprise on Thursday evening. The weatherman said flurries with no accumulation but this is what happened.
Yes, I know it’s snowing sideways. I’m just tickled because I finally got a video to upload. My digital camera takes short videos and I forgot that if I turn the camera sideways, I can’t just flip the picture upright in Photoshop.

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

This is the scene that we woke up to on Friday morning. I’m posting this on Saturday and some of it is still here however the temperature is going to be near 60 degrees tomorrow. So fickle is the weather in Tennessee.

I’m enjoying sitting in my warm basement by the woodstove with my laptop, looking out at what’s left of the snow, having a conversation with you.
Here are some very non-wintery earrings that I’ve just recently posted in my Etsy shop.

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Don’t you just love to get surprises? I’ve gotten two lately. The first one was from Steph (aka Vladthebt) There was a lovely decorated box in my mailbox and I knew just who it was from when I saw it. The box was chock full of treasures large and small. There was a cool bracelet and lots of beads and a bag full of different kinds of crosses.I just noticed that the bracelet isn’t in this picture because I immediately put it on my wrist. I had such fun looking at the present and planning what I would make with the items.This necklace was made using some of the beads that Steph sent in a previous gift, plus some of my own.The second surprise was from my cousin Sally. She called and said that she was mailing me a box of wool. She has two sheep, Moses and Pharaoh, so this wool was from them with some other types of wool mixed together. The colors are going to be fun to work with and there is some white for me to dye myself.
What a fun jump start that was to my creativity.

Well the title isn’t very inspired, but it pretty much says it all. Here are some of the new things that I made for the sale at Silo Studios.
The photo above is a button maille bracelet that I got the idea for from a jewelry magazine that I flipped through at the craft store. I’ve always wanted to try chain maille but the directions seemed confusing. This looked simple enough, and it was fun.

A variety of earrings.

This is Prince Albert, made from a tobacco tin, a tin can lid, some resistors for his medals, and a vintage rhinestone button.

Oh my! I’ve been tagged by Steph (Check out her blog, Vladthebatsattic). Now I have to think of 7 things about myself that someone else would find remotely interesting. I feel like such an ordinary person, that might take some stretching of my brain. Got to kick the left side into gear and give it a go.

1. I guess the one thing that I put the most energy into in my life is that I homeschooled my two sons all the way from kindergarten to graduation. That means that I taught all of those grades…twice. That seems like a lot to me, but I have one friend who has 11 children and plans to teach all of them the whole way, so I guess it’s not such a huge thing. I learned more by teaching them than I ever learned in my whole education up to that point.

2. My husband says that I’m the geek of the family. He means it as a compliment. He doesn’t do the computer at all and doesn’t own a cell phone. I have to run the DVD player and any other electronic device in the house. He could do it if he wanted to, but just doesn’t want to. I insisted that he learn how to use my cell phone. I made his website for his business, and I run the computer at church to put the words to the songs up on the screen. I love computers!

3. I’ve always wanted to be an artist. The only other thing I considered is archeology. I’d still like to do that. Maybe I could combine the two.

4. I’ve completed one half of a century and am almost a year into the second half century.

5. I can recite all of the presidents of the United States in 30 seconds.

6. I must have a twin or several twins because at least once a month some stranger says to me, “Do I know you?” or “I know someone who looks just like you.” It’s not just locally, it happens when I’m traveling too. I’m going to have to start asking them what my twin’s name is so I’ll know if it is the same person all the time.

7. I’m mostly vegetarian. Occasionally I do eat fish, but I don’t eat land animals. Is there a different term for that? I do it for health reasons, not because I’m opposed to people eating meat. I just think it’s better for you. My dad died of cancer and several of my aunts have had cancer so I’m just trying to improve my chances. I feel better too.
Well…that’s a little bit of me. I’d pass this tag along but everyone I can think of has already been tagged.

I don’t do Halloween, but I can appreciate a hilarious costume. This is my next to newest nephew as Elvis. That is really his hair. He almost needed a haircut when he was born.

Another thing that is hard for me to pass up…the opportunity to paint on someone’s face. For family and friends, guess the identity of the evil clown.

I am sad to say that my brother-in-law, Donald Trader passed away last Saturday, October 11. He will be missed by all, especially by his wife and daughter. I thought I would post one of his paintings. He went through several prolific years of painting, but in recent years had stopped. I enjoyed his colorful, Picasso-like style. He also wrote stories and was an avid follower of politics and economics. He had lived in many places all over the world which gave him a unique perspective on life.

A couple of months ago, Don commissioned me to redo their bathroom because he knew that his health was failing and wanted to change their shower to one that was more easily accessible. As long as we were making changes, he decided that he wanted a mural of Poseidon in the shower. That has been the big project that I have been working on. It is complete except for some of the fixtures that will have to be done by a contractor. I thought I would go ahead and post it here. He did get to see it before he died, but did not get to use it since it is not quite complete.
These photos were taken before I grouted it. I think the colors show up better in the photo. They are done with vitreous glass tiles. The main mosiac took me 71 hours to complete. I’ve never spent that much time on any one project before. I just did it in 2 and 3 hour segments.

And I had to share this photo also. It is a shot of the full moon rising above our valley. I was just trying out my new camera.

Finally…a chance to do a little mixed media collage…not tile and grout, or metal and beads. It’s nice to have a change now and then.
Love and happy birthday wishes to my sister Emily, my son Zach, my nephew Samuel, and my friend Susan. I hope you have a blessed day.

Can you see the glowing eye? This little owl and its friend landed on our steps the other night. My hubby came running in saying, “Get the camera!” Sorry the picture is a little blurry. I’m just getting used the my new camera, but I did manage to capture one of them on it. We’ve also been having flocks of little wood ducks fly in every evening to roost by our pond. It’s funny to sit out at night and listen to them squeek; they don’t quack like other ducks. They are too far away for me to get a good picture of them though. It’s always a nature adventure around here.

I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been working on the big mosaic project and just finished the main pieces and started installing them. I then have to tile the whole bathroom around them and paint the walls. I will definitely post pictures of it when I’m done.

Meanwhile, I have managed to make a little jewelry. Shawn at Silo Studios has requested that I make some colorful, funky pieces for the next show so that’s what I’m trying to accomplish. I’m using some vintage junk as the focal pieces with some glass and fabric beads in some of the necklaces. I’ve been neglecting earrings…next I need to focus on that, and maybe some bracelets. Here are a few of the new ones.

Vacation is fun, but it’s good to be back home were I can create. I took some art materials with me on my trip but it’s hard to find time to be creative with that much going on around me. I’ve managed to create a few pieces of jewelry since I’ve been back, but the bulk of my time has been spent working on a huge mosaic project that I’m doing for my sister and her husband. I’ll post pictures of it when I’m done but I want the final piece to be a surprise.
Here is one of the necklaces that I’ve completed:

Also, before I left for my trip I was given this award by the wonderful Steph of Vladthebatsattic. I’m so excited! It’s my first award. Here are the rules for this award:1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.2. Link to the person you received your award from.3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.4. Put links of those blogs on yours.5. Leave a message on the blogs you’ve nominated.6. Write an acceptance speech in the style of the Academy Awards, thanking every body’s mother, father, sister, brother, aunties and uncles and the kitchen staff at your favorite restaurant!

So….I want to thank Step for nominating me for this award and for her encouraging comments that she always leaves, and all of the other people that visit and leave comments, and even the ones that just stop by and have a look. Most of all, I want to thank my Dear Hubby who allows me the freedom to stay at home and do what I do, and always encourages me, and is my best critic.

Here are some of my favorite bloggers to whom I’d like to give this award:
Julie at Is There A Shadow
Lindsay at Serendipity
Deryn at Something Sublime
Gina at Maxanimation
Cynthia at Art for Housewives
Judy at Red Velvet

Check them out!

I just got back from a family reunion at Gulf Shores, Alabama at 1:00 this morning. There was a mandatory evacuation because of Hurricane Gustav. We were supposed to leave today but had to cut it short. The trip was a blast in spite of the evacuation. There were 45 of us in one huge house! What an amazing gathering of people! I will post more later, but I wanted to tell about the coolest thing that happened there. On Saturday night the ocean was glowing! There is a phenomenon called bioluminescence.Here is an explanation taken from http://mips.stanford.edu/public/abstracts/hastings.pdf

“Ocean “phosphorescence”, commonly seen at night when the water is disturbed, is largely due to the dinoflagellates; they occur ubiquitously in the oceans as planktonic forms, responding to mechanical stimulation when the water is disturbed by emitting brief bright light. Light emission may be seen in the wake of a large ship for some 20 miles. About 20% of marine species are bioluminescent and many are photosynthetic. “ Red tides” are transient blooms of individual dinoflagellate species. Phosphorescent bays (e.g., in Puerto Rico, Jamaica) are persistent blooms of this type.

Since dinoflagellates are stimulated to emit light when predators (e.g., crustaceans) are active, predators on the crustaceans might thereby be alerted to feed on crustaceans, resulting in a reduced predation on dinoflagellates generally. Predation on dinoflagellates may also be impeded more directly; the flash could startle or divert a predator, allowing that cell to escape predation. The response time to stimulation (msec) is certainly fast enough to have this effect.”

I tried to take pictures of it but couldn’t capture it, but I did find a Youtube video that shows what happens when you splash in the water. All of us ran down to the ocean and started swimming and splashing with the kids. I have always wanted to see this phenomenon but thought it only happened in tropical places but apparently it is fairly common.
I was so thrilled to finally experience it. That was one of those “bucket list” experiences.

Even though summer isn’t over, the leaves are starting to fall and make me think of autumn. I think I’ll call this my autumn leaves collection.
Materials: copper, brass, and jasper

Hurray! I got in my first Etsy Treasury! I’d put a picture of it but I’m not sure how.
Thanks to NewHopeBeads for featuring me. A portion of her proceeds goes to benefit the In Partners With God Food Pantry.

Our family excursion last weekend to East Tennessee was a blast! Fun was had by all. Our first stop was Chattanooga on Saturday where we went on a walking tour of the riverfront area. If you haven’t been , you should consider a trip there. It is a beautiful area with plenty to do for all types of interests. My main interest, of course, was the arts district. We began our walk near the Hunter Museum of American Art. We didn’t go in this time, I’ll save that for the next visit. They have recently opened a walking bridge across the Tennessee River and that was our route to the arts district…amazing views all the way across.

This is the path coming down from the Hunter Museum

This is part of the Renaissance Park on the NorthShore. There is much more to it, such as a huge carousel and a fountain that has animals that spout water and water that comes from the ground and children and grown-ups play in it.

Hubby and meAll along the street, there are brass footprints with dance steps labeled.
The next one is called “The Kiss.”

Hubby and I had to try it out.

This is a small art market that is a part of Art ’til Dark which is on every first and third Saturday, March through November.

This is the Winder-Binder Folk Art-Outsider Art Gallery

We spent the night in Etowah and then the next day we went to the Hiwassee River to go kayaking. It was a three and a half hour trip and the rapids are up to a class 2, which is not too dangerous but just challenging enough to be exciting.

Windsor in the rapids

Hubby in a calm part

Christina coming through the white water

Stones and textured copper

The rocks will cry out.

Sticks and stones

Here is a little finale…Windsor taking the hard way down into the water.

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

I have been working on some new necklaces based around some gemstone cabochons that I have had for several years. I didn’t want to use bezels so I got an idea from a necklace that I made in college, to attach them with tabs cut from the surrounding metal. Here is what I’ve come up with.

I just listed the one above in my Etsy shop.

The one below was inspired by Steph, who sent me a beautiful Egyptian coil bracelet.

cAt PlAyiNg DeAd

This is a bracelet that I just finished. I seem to have a thing for these eyes. They keep showing up.

I saw that line in a jewelry magazine as a caption under a piece that was somewhat abstract…just a square with different colors. The piece of jewelry didn’t speak to me, but the the caption got me started thinking about pins that one might give to someone in appreciation for who they are and what they do, or as encouragement to achieve, so I started making this series of pins/medals. I thought of the courage medal that Oz gave to the Cowardly Lion and the heart that he gave to the Tinman. This is what I’ve come up with so far.




These will be posted in my Etsy shop.

This necklace was a commission for a lady that is getting ready to have her first baby. She wanted the necklace to have the baby’s name. Even though the baby is a girl, I made the necklace in blues and greens, with dragonflies and leaves, for a nature theme. I think it’s pretty cool that when Allie grows up she can wear a necklace that her mom wore while pregnant with her…an interesting keepsake.

It’s always so fun to go browsing through an antique mall. There’s one near my house that I occasionally get to visit and last week I treated myself to an outing. I found several interesting odds and ends and when I got home I was inspired to make this necklace from an old change purse, several broken old necklaces, a vintage glass button, and some rusty keys. Every element came from that trip to the store, except the wire to put it together. On a brass tag, I stamped the words, “remember when.” Inside the purse, I decided to add a little more history. It contains a 1941 wheat penny, a 1 1/2 cent postage stamp, bits of an old post card, two WWII food ration stamps, and an old photo of an anonymous couple.
One could make up one’s own story to go along with the contents or put in personal mementos.
Another inspiration for me is Nina Bagley’s jewelry.
I will be taking it to this month’s sale at Silo Studio on Thursday.

The mailbox held a surprise a couple of days ago…a wonderful gift from Steph in Belgium. Look at the hand decorated envelope. Both sides were completely covered! There was a cool silver wire ring and some beads that will find a home on a new necklace soon. Thanks so much Steph for brightening my day.
Here are three new necklaces that I just completed. I have been into hearts and wire lacing and stitching lately.


And finally a little of playing around. This angel was made from a styrofoam tray that I had used as a palette, a crushed bottle cap found in a parking lot, magazine letters, and an old paintbrush.

Quote of the day:
Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive. Gil Bailie

All is pretty peaceful at Stillwaters farm this week. The company (7 wonderful family members) of last week has gone home, The puppy is now happy and playing outside again with our grandpuppy Grant whom we are puppy-sitting. I hope to get back to some semblance of a routine this week and do some creating.
Here one of the pieces that I managed to do last week.

Well…this has been an interesting week. I had to take Maggie to be spayed on Monday. She couldn’t have anything to eat or drink so I had to keep her in the house all day until I kept took her in. A couple of my friends were coming out to fish in our pond and when they arrived they had about 10 other people with them to fish and then they were going to fry the fish here and eat them. I love my friend and it ordinarily would have been no problem at all but the dog was stressing me out. She does not like being in the house and is not house broken. All day, I had to keep saying, “Don’t let the dog out and don’t feed her.” Finally I got to take her to town and got her safely home that evening. We have to keep her in the house while she heals, but on Thursday I put her on a rope so she could hang out outside for a little while and not get into trouble. The main problem with letting her outside is that she is not supposed to get in the pond because she mustn’t get her incision wet. She apparently got bored and started picking at her stitches and got them to open a little and the area got swollen, so I had to take her to town to the vet and they gave her an E collar and some antibiotics. She is sooooo bored in the house. I’ve been trying to spend as much time in the basement with her as I can, but I can’t stay down there all the time.

Also on Thursday I had two of my nieces here to have an art day with Aunt Sherry. We had a great time making baskets and jewelry and then I discovered I had to make the emergency visit to the vet, so I left them with my husband. He was thinking, “How can I entertain two little girls?” No problem…they wanted to go fishing, so he was happy to take them. When I got home they were playing pool and talking about how many fish they had caught. Happy ending for the day except for the unhappy dog in the collar.
Yesterday I took them with me to my friend Shawn’s house to pick up my jewelry left over from her sale the previous day. It was like an art field trip for them to visit another artist’s studio.
Today I get to stay home and rest with my puppy all day. Whew! A welcome bit of peace.

I just got to spend a glorious week with my older son and his wife and on last weekend and this weekend my other son and his wife were here too. It is so good to spend time with them. They make life more interesting. Last weekend we were celebrating my DH’s birthday and I did a new painting for his office but forgot to take a picture of it. I’ll try to remember to do that this week so that I can post it. Saturday night we officially kicked off summer by going to the local drive-in theater. We saw the new Indiana Jones movie. It was pretty fun except we missed about the last 10 minutes because the electricity went off.
Now it’s time to get back to work. I did manage to do a few pieces of jewelry last week, but I have to put my nose to the grindstone now. Here are a few of the pieces that I’ve completed.

Hi everyone! I was away from my computer for a few days. (That felt really strange.) I’m back, trying to get back in the swing of things. We went to the Tennessee River to spend time with my mom, brother, his kids, and our son and DIL. The weather was great until just as we were getting ready to leave and then it turned ominous.
Here are some collages that my niece and nephew made one night. Aunt Sherry always has some art activity up her sleeve.I think they turned out great. Their mom does a lot of arts and crafts with them, so they are pretty creative.

Here are a couple of pieces of jewelry that I finished last week and a weird little mermaid.



Outside, right next to my deck, is the goose family feasting on clover, while the dogs are ignoring them just a few feet away.

Well…I should post way more often, and then I wouldn’t have so much to say at one time. It has been an exciting week for the family. My husband’s youngest sister just had her first baby…a little boy named Nicholas. I’d post a picture but I forgot my camera when I went to visit. He is ADORABLE! That makes 16 nephews and nieces that I have and 6 great nephews and nieces on my husband’s side of the family (not including my two sons) and 3 on my side of the family.

I got in a creative mood and made him this stuffed sock critter. It was so fun, I think I’ll make some more.

I got an email from my sister today with a link to my Uncle David’s new website. He is a painter and was a painting teacher at Middle Tennessee State University were I went to college, though never took one of his classes. He wasn’t married to my aunt yet so I didn’t know him then and my emphasis was commercial art not fine art. I probably would be a much better artist today if I had taken his classes.
I wish you could meet him…he’s very interesting. There are a few paintings on the site but more will be added later. I am pleased to have four of his works at my house.

Of course I have been busy making more jewelry and here is some of it. There are too many to post at one time.Silver and freshwater pearls.

Behind the stone is my first attempt at PMC.

Now I need to get to work and clean the house and plant some flowers and replant all of our sweet corn that the crows have eaten. Arrrrrrrrrrgh!

I have felt pampered this week! First I got a wonderful beaded bracelet from my DIL and then on Monday I went to the mailbox and found this wonderful surprise package from Steph in Belgium. It contained a cute stamp that she had made and a couple of tiny handmade books, yummy chocolates, teas and other goodies. Thanks Steph!
Then I went to pick up my jewelry from Silo Studio and Shawn was cleaning up her studio and asked if I wanted these cool glove forms and a jar of old bottle caps. I was also going to buy this print but she insisted that I could have it. Fun stuff! Thanks to Shawn too!

These are pictures of my jewelry at her sale last week. I am having trouble figuring out how to display all of my stuff so that it stands out and doesn’t get too chaotic. Most of the necklaces are hanging on a tree branch. Shawn said that people liked looking at stuff on the tree.

The beaded cuffs bracelets are my DIL’s Christaloos.

These are my latest creations. They are all destined for the Silo Studio open house next Thursday and Friday.

Whew! That was a lot of work…about a week’s worth. I’ll try to post more frequently so I don’t have to put so many in one post.
One last photo…the view outside my bedroom window on Thursday morning.

My Picasso Bird

I have been soaking it all in….amazing spring. I love every part of it…lightning bugs, whippoorwills, red winged blackbirds, tadpoles, gardening, and of course, the amazing green that saturates everything. It makes it a little hard to focus on working. When I need to be in the studio, it’s so tempting when my DH says, “Why don’t you go out on the boat and fish with me a while.” Of course I say yes.

I have been managing to make some jewelry though. Making time to post it is a different matter. Here is some of it, though I forgot to take pictures of some before I sent it on its way.

Leaf charms are from Julie

Must get focused now….

I picked up this cabinet card in an antique shop back in January and have been trying to figure out what to do with it. I found some inexpensive journals the other day and so I decided to alter the card and rivet it to the front of the journal. Then I made a copper tag with my favorite saying on it and attached that to the card. The wings are Fimo, formed in a mold that I made using some of the plastic wings that they give to kids on airlines. I will be adding it to my Etsy shop today. I found it a little hard to paint on an old photo, but I think she looks like she is having more fun now than when the photo was taken.

We finally found some! We have found the elusive morel mushrooms. It has been about 3 years since we have found any in our forest. You have to look at just the right time or you will miss them. These are little ones, but it was good to have our search rewarded. These were battered and fried and thoroughly enjoyed.
Another blustery day here in Tennessee. Several tornadoes touched down around the area, and one within 10 miles of us, but we were unscathed. In the midst of the storms, I went to Silo Studios to pick up my jewelry left over from yesterday’s sale, and got to watch some of Shawn’s very creative furniture being made. If you are in the middle Tennessee area, you should check it out in next month’s open house on the second Thursday.
My younger son and his wife were extras today, in the filming of a new movie about the life of Billy Graham . They played students at the college that he went to, which would have been in the late 1930’s or early 40’s I think. It is being filmed near their home. My son had to shave off his beard and mustache for the filming, but he says he will grow it back. I haven’t seen him without it in several years. That will be interesting to see.

Long time, no blog. I have been blessedly busy for the past two weeks. I just finished painting a mural of sorts for some people from our church. They have built a new house and put a prayer room in it. They framed out an area on one wall for a triptych and asked me to paint it. They had pictures that they wanted duplicated for it so I didn’t do anything original. I just took the pictures that they gave me and changed them from a horizontal format to a vertical one and combined some of the images. It was such a stretch for me to paint people, but they are pleased so Hallelujah!

I have also been busy making jewelry. Shawn at Silo Studios asked me if I wanted to bring some for her next open studio sale and so I worked up some new pieces and gathered some that hadn’t sold yet at other places and took them to her house yesterday. I also took some of my daughter-in-law’s jewelry to sell too. Here is one of the necklaces that I made. It incorporates a vintage watch bezel with one of my little winged people inside and has brass wire and words, sterling silver wire, fresh water pearls, and glass pearls. The message is one of my favorite ones, “Time flies, be happy.” I have a couple more watches that I am going to make some similar ones with. This is one of those that I was tempted to keep. I did a couple of bracelets in a similar style but forgot to take pictures of them.

I finally get to stay home today and create and work in my garden. The weather is warm and breezy. Heaven!

A couple of Sunday’s ago I got a call from Lincoln, Nebraska. When I saw it on the caller ID, I thought, “I just sent some earrings there a this week.” It was the lady who bought the earrings and she loved them so much that she wanted a necklace to match. This is what I came up with.

I posted it on Etsy and she immediately bought it. I sent it out the next day. It’s a good thing I got a photo because it didn’t stay around long. Does it ever seem strange to you to create something and then send it out into the world and never see it again? Sometimes it does to me.

You can tell that Spring has sprung around here. Love is in the air. You can hear it all around you…toad’s love songs. I hope that these pictures aren’t too risque’. I guess it’s not any worse than the Animal Planet channel. Our pond seems to be the rendezvous location for all of the area toads. I was amazed today when I walked down there! They are everywhere! There are trails and trails of eggs! They are paired up and several seem to be having a foursome. There must be a shortage of females. They were almost oblivious to me being near to photograph them.
After walking around the pond, my DH and I took a walk in the woods to look for morel mushrooms. No luck, but the wildflowers are starting to bloom. This one is a trillium.
Maggie enjoyed the walk with us. See her new tag that I made for her? By the way, I was going to keep Tootsie, but a lady that I know called and had seen the poster that I put up and had fallen in love with her. She is going to keep her in the house and will take her camping and all kinds of things that dogs love. I thought I would cry when she took her, but I know she has a good home. It’s easier now with two dogs instead of three. On a sad note, one of my sister’s dogs died today of kidney failure. She had been unwell for a long time. Maybe I could find her a puppy like mine.
After the walk, we took our little boat out in the pond and went fishing. I caught 5 fish. We let them go.

In spite of the beautiful weather, I managed to make some jewelry. I made this bracelet this morning. It is brass, faux pearls, silver-toned wire, and recycled beads from some old earrings. I kind of like the way it turned out.
Long post…long day, but fun.

Every once in a while it is good to go on an art field trip. It kind of gets the creative juices flowing. That’s what I did on Thursday. A local artist had bought some of my jewelry and emailed me and introduced herself. We sent several emails back and forth but had not met in person. She has an event at her house every second Thursday, called Studio Thursdays. I went to my first one last Thursday. Her business is called Silo Studios because their house is built around an old grain silo. It is the most beautiful and unique house that reminds me of a lighthouse. She makes wonderful, whimsical, colorful furniture, signs, and other cool stuff. I had a blast! She also asked me if I want to bring some jewelry to sell next time so I’d better get to work!
Two other new blogs are added to my links today. My daughter-in-law is launching a blog for her jewelry and my son is doing one just for fun.

I have been venturing back into soldering. I haven’t done much of it since many years ago when I was doing stained glass so it is taking some practice to get proficient again. Here are some new necklaces that are collages under glass. A couple of them are sold already. Yay!

Tootsie

Maggie

I was driving home from town on Monday evening. It was just beginning to get dark. I was about half a mile from my driveway when I saw a pair of eyes glowing. They were low to the ground so I thought it was a rabbit. When I got near, I saw that it was a little puppy! I stopped and she was running around the car whining and so I picked her up and put her on my lap and she just laid down as if it was the most natural thing. I drove into my garage and put her out. Then I went inside and told my husband, “Come look at what I found.” I went back out to pet her and a couple of minutes later I heard scratching and crying at the door and I looked out and it was her sister. She had followed us somehow and thought that she should be in my house. So, now I have two extra puppies. I want to keep one of them, but I need to find a home for the other one. They are so adorable! I think they are Doxles- (Dachshund /Beagle mix)

I called all of my near neighbors to make sure they weren’t missing any puppies and they weren’t so I’m sure that someone dropped them. People do that here frequently because we live in a remote area. I’m sure these puppies would have been coyote food before morning. What a sad thing. I’m glad I found them. My problem now is which one to keep. They are tooooo cute!

I was browsing at a local antique mall last week and came home with two interesting finds. One was a tea cup full of old metal jacks and the other was a bundle of vintage silver plated spoons. Each inspired a piece of jewelry and hopefully will become other jewelry in the future and not just disappear into the chaotic void of my studio.

The first piece that I made was a necklace using the handle of the spoon. The design is a tall vase of flowers with a pierced design around it. I surrounded it with faux pearls and crystal beads.

The jacks inspired me to make a necklace of game pieces in the style of Susan Lenart Kasmer, only not so full as hers.
These two are now listed on my Etsy shop.

I’ve been playing around with some new designs, mostly on a nostalgic theme. All are on copper, of course. I’m trying to sell them locally rather than on Etsy because it seems to be moving better here. We’ll see…

March is almost here. The spring peepers are awakening. This year’s resident goose couple is scoping out and defending their nesting site from usurpers. I can feel spring nudging its way to the surface to amaze me again.

I have been wonderfully busy lately. I love it! I’ve had about a month of jewelry orders from my sister-in-law who has been selling my jewelry at the hair salon where she works. Things have slowed a bit since Valentines Day is over, but the jewelry is still selling.
Today I got to work on a couple of pieces of jewelry just for fun. I’ve listed them in my Etsy shop. They are made from upcycled bits and pieces with found objects.

Also this week I’ve been doing a commission that is a piquet assiette counter top for an island in a kitchen. The home owner also owns an antique store in town and has been saving her broken pottery and dishes for years, which she wanted me to use to make the counter top. I ended up having to cover it with resin because the thicknesses of the shards were so varied. I forgot to take a picture of it completed, but here is one of before I grouted it.

Doing a commissioned job is fun, but what I enjoy most is doing my own thing. If someone likes it and wants to buy it, great, but it they don’t, then fine too. I’m just in love with the creative process.

Once people find out about Etsy, they want to be a part of it. I think it is a great resource for artists everywhere. I want to showcase three new Etsy sites that I have encouraged or helped to start.
The first two, I’m very proud of because they are my daughters-in-law. They both do similar types of crafts but different in their own ways. First I helped to set up Christaloo’s Etsy shop. She is doing beaded cuffs and hand sewn items. Here is one of her first cuffs…amazing detail and lots of time involved.

Next I encouraged my other DIL to make her own shop which she calls Zebrainfusion. She also makes beautifully detailed beaded cuffs and other jewelry. Here is one of her first cuffs too. These girls have such patience and attention to detail. Yes, I will brag on them.

Next is my friend that owns the shop Arts Desire in our town that used to sell some of my work. She is unfortunately going to close the doors on her shop soon and so I helped her to set up her Etsy shop so that she can keep on selling. She makes silver and copper handcrafted jewelry too.

I think that we can all reach thousands more customers with virtual Etsy shop than one ever could reach in a physical shop. It’s also a great community for artists to get to know each other.

What fun it has been to go to the mailbox lately! I have just received two wonderful gifts from a couple of my blogger friends. One was completely unexpected, from my friend Steph in Belgium. I gasped in amazement when I opened the package and saw the wonderful Egyptian coils bracelet and other goodies that she sent me. She had posted a picture of the Egyptian coils sometime last year and I had admired them then. What a skilled artist and photographer.

The other gift was from my friend Julie in Australia and is amazing also, a gorgeous altered journal. She has such a way with making things look wonderfully ancient. It is so beautiful that I will have to think hard to come up with something special enough to write and draw in it. It was a prize for leaving one of the first three comments on her blog. In receiving this gift, I must agree to pay it forward and offer to give a gift to the first three people who comment on this post. In turn, they must agree to pay it forward also.

All of my friends and family who check in frequently and don’t leave comments…now’s your chance too.

Birthdays all around! This is a necklace that I made for my daughter-in-law who loves to dance. She took this photo for me because I didn’t get to photograph it before I gave it to her. The pendant is made from a digital collage that I did, mounted on white brass, and covered with resin. I am including a separate image of the collage because all of the detail doesn’t show up on the necklace photo.

My new socks

Little ole me was born! WooooHoooo! The big five-o! I think fifty is the new thirty. Most days I feel like it. I love it! I don’t understand people who are depressed about their age. I am thankful to be healthy and blessed with such wonderful family and friends. Half of a century isn’t too bad. I’m just getting wound up. Can’t wait to see what the next half century brings.

I have had a creative burst lately. It’s about time. I’ve mostly been focused on making jewelry. The selling increase that I had during the holidays did wonders for my inspiration.
Here are a few more of the pieces that I’ve finished.

Row, Row, Row your boat.
Gently down the stream.

I finally figured out how to put a banner on my blog. It’s one of my digital creations…a new look for the new year.

Life is but a dream.

Happy New Year everybody! I have been too distracted by all of the holiday bustle to blog lately. I have been reading everyone else’s, but have neglected my own. Even though I have not been blogging, I have been making jewelry. Some of it is in various stages of completion, but today I listed two pieces on etsy. It’s all a little different from what I have been doing, though it still involves copper. When I finish the others I will post them. Here is a little taste of what I’ve been up to.

I just finished this painting for my hubby’s present in the nick of time. I’m not sure if it is a sunrise or a sunset. It is just a picture that I found. I love painting clouds but these were challenging. The upper right hand side is kind of like “I spy.” What shapes can I find there.

This is a nightstand that I painted and tiled that I have listed in my Etsy shop. It was an old, but sturdy one that I found at Goodwill and gave it a new life.

I just received a wonderful package of goodies from Steph in Belgium. There is a beautiful necklace, beads, and pendants that she made, some yummy chocolates(one didn’t make it until the photo) , a cool key (soon to have its home on a necklace for myself), postcards, coins, and an ornament. Fun stuff! Check out her blog, vlaDtHeBaT’s aTTiC for some really beautiful, unique jewelry and photography.

Put together all of the right elements

My computer has been feeling a little neglected this week because I’ve been busy filling orders for bracelets. My sister-in-law has been a great salesperson for me. She is a hair dresser and has been selling them to her clients. I think she has sold nine of them. Hallelujah! Making two or three a day is about my limit but I’ll keep making them as long as people want them. It’s nice to have things moving along at a faster pace.

I would not make a very good hand model.

Well, everything is back to routine here. The company and our kids are gone home and it is quiet again. Here is a photo of the height of the feeding frenzy at our house on Thursday. Everyone brought food so I didn’t have to cook a lot, but I did do two turkeys which were totally devoured. (Not by myself, I don’t eat meat but I still have to cook it for my family) I think I overdosed on sweet potatoes. My aunts make the best, with lots of brown sugar, butter, and pecans on top. Now it is time for more healthy food. Here is a recipe for a broccoli salad that I came up with.

This is the view of our yard that I’ve seen for the past two mornings. Our neighbors cows have discovered that our grass is really greener than theirs and now they are determined that they should live over here. He keeps putting them back and they find a way out. They aren’t hurting anything and it is good to see them enjoying themselves and having their own feast. I have another story to share about these cows when I get pictures from our brother-in-law of the wedding that we had here in September.

I’ve spent a lazy morning napping, drinking tea, and looking at thought provoking websites. What bliss! Here is a fun site: Keri Smith’s Wish Jar.
Check out her blog. It will keep you entertained for a long while. I’m working my way through her archives. It’s addictive.