NY TIMES!

So I didn't want to involve my work life onto my blog but I couldn't help it. The excitement is just bursting at the seams!

This morning our mayor came into the shop I work at once a week and handed me a copy of the New York Times. He said it was a gift for me.

I looked puzzled, took it, opened it, and noticed that I was in it!

A Link to the Article

I bought every copy I could at the local book shop which luckily was 2 doors up from the shop I work at.

So exciting so exciting so exciting so exciting!!!

YAY for me

This morning my Aunt Sharon bought my seahorse necklace and it made me happy. I looked at my sales and thus far I have sold 31 items in my etsy shop and that made me happy. I also get to pick up my computer from the Apple store and that is going to make me SUPER HAPPY!
So here is too a happy day!

Sawing Metal Tutorial

This is going to be the first tutorial in (I hope) many which will take us step by step into making a pair of cool copper hoop earrings. Of course this technique is the first you will need to learn for any jewelry design project using sheet metal.




When cutting metal with a jeweler's saw there are a few key points

1) Always draw directly on the metal your design, or draw it on a computer, then rubber cement it to the metal

2) Insert your saw blade into the saw properly

3) Rub a little of wax or soap onto your blade

4) Hold your saw at either 90 degree or 45 degree angle. Whichever works best for you

5) Slow and steady wins the race!


Next time...filing and sanding. Ohhhhhhhhhh fun!




So is anyone out there watching these??

Halloween Time

The stores are starting to get ready! Back to school stuff is slowly leaving the shelves and soon they will be filled with Halloween goodies!

My mother and I went to Tucson to do some early Halloween shopping. I spent my Halloween allowance for the year in one day!

Despite that, I decided to get more into the spirit and make some more jewelry inspired by my favorite holiday!



I etched the copper for these earrings months and months ago and forgot about it until looking for something in my scrap copper drawer.

These were etched using salt water and a battery! Pretty cool huh? Etched onto the copper is a little spider web design. I thought it appropriate for Halloween. I want to learn how to preserve spider webs under glass and found several tutorials online. I just need the time and energy to do it.



I just adore these bat earrings. Like the bat necklace I made, they are taken from the weather vane design at the Haunted Mansion in DisneyWorld. I might be tempted to wear these on my trip if someone does not purchase them before then.



How I love eyeballs! This is a taxidermy eye. I bezel set it onto this ring along with some onyx stones I had laying around. I love this ring! It so creepy! I imagine it on the finger of a female vampire.

All these pieces can be found on my etsy shop by clicking here.

My camera battery is still MIA...darn cats...and my other digital cameras do not have a video mode with sound. So until the new battery arrives, or my cats decide to stop being so mischievous, I won't be able to do my sawing lesson.:( grrrrrrrrrr. Anyone want 6 cats? Free to a good home!


So does anyone really read this blog???

Grrrrrr Caaaatttts

Darn cats. I still can't find my camera battery and the new one I ordered online is backordered.

Where is my camera battery you little feline bastards???

Other Stuff...

If I don't keep my hands busy I go nuts! I do more then just make jewelry. I make all sorts of things. Most of which are for sale at The Source Within. A metaphysical shop located in beautiful downtown Old Bisbee.

The owners are fabulous folks and allow me to sell my goods...no matter how strange or weird!


Good Luck Birds

I call these my good luck birds. They are made out of old bottle caps, tin containers, and odds and ends found around my studio. They have cute copper legs and hooks on the back. Some people have worn them in their hair, others have hung them on their holiday trees. My mother attached hers to the fridge. They are so adorable. I <3 them!


Happy Skulls & Beaded Jewelry

My beaded jewelry...and the fun and funky Happy Skull Hair Accessories! They are made from felt and can be worn in your hair, or clip them to a tank or hat. They are so much fun when I wear mine I can't walk down the street without getting stopped and complimented on them. Sometimes I wear mine just so strangers will talk to me :)


Octopuses & Wet Felted Scarflettes

I am a bit obsessed with Octopuses. So I challenged myself to make some in plush form. My major in college was Toy Design, so I thought this would be easy. They turned out so well, with little button eyes that I decided to sell them. What was I going to do with a dozen Octopi anyways?

I also taught myself how to wet felt last winter. So much fun! A little bit messy as well. Water went everywhere! I made these little scarflettes. Funny thing, and something I didn't realize when I made them was that in AZ people don't really need scarfs all that often. Haha. I enjoyed making them anyways!

If you look in the lower right corner of the photo you will notice my Ghosts in a Bottle. These little guys take me forever to catch and stuff into the vintage bottles. But when I am successful they liter the store and guests love to look at them!



Roach Hair Barrettes

And my most favorite are my roach hair barrettes! For some reason customers don't have the same enthusiasm about these that I do! But OMG how adorable!?!

Halloween!!!

I went to Safeway the other day and lo and behold they already had Halloween decorations out! I was so excited I started jumping up and down like a little girl! I ended up buying this adorable knick nack of a ghost popping out of a cupcake with glitter frosting!

Then when I got home I realized how close Halloween was! Only 2 months away! WOO HOO. Now I am not just saying that because it is the busiest time for the Ghost Tours but because it means that my vacation to Walt Disney World is almost here!

Of course my favorite ride at Disney World is the Haunted Mansion! So I started looking at photos of the Haunted Mansion on the internet and I found something very cool. A close up of the weather vane on top of the Haunted Mansion. It was so neat! I wanted one so badly! Of course I can not have it...unless someone out there knows of someone who makes replicas of them.




So I decided to search the internet some more. What did I find? The original blueprints for the weather vane. HOLY SMOKES!

So I took the original blue print design, sized it down, and made a mini version of the bat out of silver. I added some onyx and crystals the color of the Haunted Mansion cast member costumes and was so pleased with myself!



Available in my Etsy Shop

And since I was in a spooky mood, I decided to work on my Day of the Dead sugar skull necklace while in the studio. I etched this weeks ago but have not been inspired to do anything with it until today.



Available in my Etsy Shop

I have more Halloween designs up my sleeve. Oh how I love this time of year. Soon the weather will be changing and I will be able to bring out all the Halloween decorations!!

Quotes about life by rock stars!

Amanda Palmer from the Dresden Dolls has this great quote

"Life gets in the way of progress"


Amanda Palmer is a girl I could be friends with! Love her attitude, love her wardrobe, love her music. I love everything about that woman!


Yes I promised my first blog lesson...and I failed to keep that promise.

My folks moved to town, my husband and I bought a 55 gallon fish tank, I am running the ghost tours, trying to pitch a new ghost book idea to my publisher, and keep my insanity!


Therefore the sawing lesson has been put off until next week.

Blah kind of day with a positive twist

Today was kind of blah.

I am a bit upset because I pitched a jewelry/marketing book idea to a publisher who strung me along, asked me to write a project outline, get other designers involved, and after a lot of work told me that she did not have the time to commit to my project. SHE didn't have the time?

Then I was wondering why one writes a book. Having written one and been published before, I can tell you it is not for the money. Is it for the fame? No not really. It is to educate, entertain, and hopefully provoke some change in people's perceptions.

So why write a book when I have a blog???

Why can't I give lessons on my blog?

Vblogs are way better then picture tutorials for the more difficult projects anyways.

So my goal is to give a jewelry/metalsmithing lesson a week. For FREE! No need to buy a book, or subscribe to a website.

I'm super excited about this little project.

If my mood is in a positive place tomorrow, I will start Lesson 1 Sawing Copper & Silver

Exhaustion

I am exhausted! Absolutely and totally exhausted!



I took Leah to the airport last week. On the way we stopped by the new aquarium that just opened in Phoenix. There is noting in this world I love more then the ocean, beach and educating myself about marine life.









These jellies were so inspiring, and got my creative juices flowing! Though I have had no time to go into my studio since returning from the aquarium.


The day Leah left, my parents arrived. They packed up their house in Philly, sold it to my sister and moved a half hour away to Hereford.

My bathroom still has a wall missing, and hopefully today my friend Moses will be coming over to help me build a frame for the wall and help me put up the dry wall. After that is completed I will be able to tile the walls. Once that is finished we can hook up the sink, bathtub and toilet. Though in all honesty I would much prefer my bathroom not have a toilet. Toilets are gross and I don't want to be luxuriating in my tub and have to look over and see the crapper right there. But then again I guess the resale value of a home goes down if only one of the bathrooms actually has a toilet in it.

The other issue we have been dealing with is with our cat Spooky/Marshmallow/Snow Drop.Yes the cat has three names. Why? Well I named her Spooky because when she was given to us she was all white with these striking blue eyes. Because my night job is being Ghost Host extraordinaire, I thought it only appropriate to name her Spooky since she was white like a ghost.

My husband on the other hand thought that she would live up to this name, and she has. She get spooked so easily. Scared of us walking into the room. Scared of strangers who come over. Scared of her own shadow. She was not like this until we moved into our house. So he started calling her Marshmallow. Which was a cute name. He hoped that this would make her more affectionate, more cuddly. Didn't work.

So before the Burton Alice in Wonderland movie came out, every night before going to bed my husband would read to me chapters from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Snowdrop was the name of Alice's kitty in Through the Looking Glass. So I thought that Spooky/Marshmallow was white like a snow flake, so why not name her that instead. Didn't work. So now the poor thing had three names!

Now the main issue with Spooky/Marshmallow/Snowdrop is that she has been picking inappropriate places to urinate. Last week I had to throw away about two dozen books because she chose to use them as her litter box.

I decided to take her to the vet. They checked for a urinary track infection, but it came up negative. Their only conclusion was that it was a behavior problem. They recommended that we get all new litter boxes, seclude her from the rest of the cats in a room with just her a few toys, food and water and her litter box. Do you know how hard this was?

HARD!!!

We put her in our back sun room. It has a screen door to the family room so she could still have the other cats visit, but they could not go inside the room. It also has two glass doors that look out onto our backyard. So she could see the birdies.

Poor thing was lonely and afraid the entire time.



After two days she was using her liter box and we decided to let her out back into the house.




So far...no accidents!!