Another Sneak Peak

Here is a sneak peak at one of my Valentines Day designs. I love it! I hope people find it as comical as I do.
I think I am going to call it 'I Love You So Much I Want To Eat Your Heart Out Necklace'.



My silver order did not arrive yet so some of the items I designed will have to wait until it shows up.

Which made me ponder a moral question.

Since silver is so high right now, would it be wrong of me to make a piece out of copper, change the color in photoshop, and then post it on etsy? Of course if anyone purchased the item I would make it in silver, but I don't want to waste the silver if no one is going to purchase the item.

Help on this moral dilemma would be greatly appreciated!

New Years Resolutions 2011

I try to make a list every year of my New Years Resolutions. So here are the ones for 2011.

2010 was a pretty bad year for a lot of my friends. For me it wasn't too bad. We bought a house, my book was published, I started my etsy shop, we let go of the Tombstone Ghost Tour which was nothing but a headache, my cousin Leah stayed with me for the summer, my parents moved 1/2 hour away, business has been really good, the fur children got a new baby pug sister. All in all things have been pretty good here though there are some personal issues I need to work on. Things I tell myself every year that I am going to do, and then never do. Maybe that should be at the top of my list this year...DO WHAT I SAY I AM GOING TO DO ON MY NEW YEAR RESOLUTION LIST!!!! Haha. Well here it is!

2011 New Years Resolutions

- Have more patients with people, customers, the fur babies
- Paint more
- Improve my etsy shop
- Learn to let go of the little things that annoy me on a daily basis
- Be less judgmental
- See more movies
- Spend more quality time with the husband
- Take more art classes, either online or at a local center
- Get the front yard looking pretty
- Get the house looking pretty
- Learn a different language. French...though Spanish would be a smarter choice
- Try to get at least 30 followers on my blog
- Try to make more friends...and keep them

SNEAK PEAK

Here is a sneak peak at new designs I worked on today.
I always sketch them out and then bring my sketches into the computer to do the final drawings.
I can't wait to start cutting, rolling, and making these little babies!! Mwahhahahaha

Inspiration...and where to get it

I find it very difficult at times to become inspired to make new jewelry, or to sew a new dress or a new painting.

I always start projects, yet never finish them. I have tons of sewing patterns that I swear I will one day make into pretty dresses, yet I never get inspired to make them.
I have a pile of blank canvases in my studio that I swear will one day get painted, but I never get inspired to paint them.
I have tons of ideas in my head of jewelry I want to make, but can't get myself into my studio to cut the metal.

Or sometimes I think through a project, only to convince myself that it isn't good, or not worth the time and energy to make it.

So the question is, where do you find inspiration and how to do you follow through with it?

SUPER SALE!!!

Cleaning out the shop for the New Year!
All items in my etsy shop are 45% off from December 24th through January 1st!
Use the coupon code GOODBYE2010 at checkout!!

Making a Ring

So here is the video of me making a ring super fast!
I am upset because the good quality video was too big and youtube didn't like it.
The bad quality one youtube liked, but took away my Madonna and Lady GaGa music. Ok I understand why because of copyright issues and whatnot, but it was so much better with music!

Anyways. Here you guys go! Enjoy.

New piece of jewelry and me in my holiday insanity!

Rut

Have you've ever gotten into a rut?

I bought all these cute metal stamps on etsy, they arrived today and are so cute, but don't know what on earth to do with them now. My sketchbook is open and I am trying to think of some designs but can't.

Grrrrrr.

I hate being in a rut.

Bath Bombs AWAY!!!!

I love taking baths. LOVE taking baths! If the water never got cold, and my fingers didn't turn into raisins I would live in the bathtub!

More then anything in the world I love bath salts, bubble bath, and bath bombs.

I started making bath salts from lavender grown in my garden. I sell it at the Source Within and it usually sells really well.

On a recent trip to Tucson, my mother bought me some bath bombs at World Market, and they were very expensive. I figured it would be more cost effective to make them then purchase them. So I bought a few books, read a few tutorials, bought a kit. And WALA I made bath bombs today!

Now, my only problem was that the kit I bought did not come with a mold. So I had to search around the house trying to find something that would work. Of course the only molds I have are halloween molds of skulls and skeleton bones. I also found cupcake liners and a cupcake tin. Sooooo I messed around a little bit, and WALA...cupcake bath bombs were made! The photos are what they looked like after we let them set for a couple hours. They still need to dry for a day or so.


Don't they look good enough to eat?!?

My Hubby helping take them out of the cooking sheet.

At that time I will fill up the bathtub, and drop one in!

Others who I admire

I wanted to make a quick post about other artists whom I admire.

First being Nova by Tess. Her work is amazing. The way she uses stones and wire to make pieces of art is inspiring! She is having an awesome giveaway on her blog! So check her out BY CLICKING HERE.

The other is an old friend from high school who just started an etsy shop. She makes handmade soaps. Most are vegan friendly, some are vegetarian friendly. You can check out her shop UncommonSoap by CLICKING HERE.

That is all :)

Inconveniences frustrate me!

Inconveniences frustrate me!

It is extremely rare that my husband and I get to do anything together on the weekends, due to my day (night) job. I work on the weekends, he works during the week. He is also in a play this year and today was the one night all week that he did not have a rehearsal. So we decided to go on an outing.

I canceled the Old Bisbee Ghost Tour for this evening because 1) it is our slowest time of the year 2) My husband and I wanted to go to Phoenix to pick out furniture at IKEA for the TV/Guest/Halloween room. Mind you this is a HUGE task. The drive is 3.5 hours long without stopping. We decided to bring the new puppy, Tootsie with us since she is way too young to be left home alone for that amount of time. Office calls were forwarded to our cell phone in case we needed to make reservations for a future tour. We were set to go!

We figured that while in Phoenix we might as well hit the bestest craft store in the world Hobby Lobby!!

We get to IKEA, put Tootsie in her snuggie and get our TV unit (mind you we don't have a TV yet :) I pick out a display case to showcase my jewelry at the Source Within and all was good.

We head over to Hobby Lobby less then a mile away. The parking lot was empty! I figured that the store moved. We pulled up next to the front door and there was a sign hanging on it stating 'We are closed on Sundays to allow our employees a day with their families and worship'.

Ok. Now you can't tell me that every employee at Hobby Lobby uses Sundays to spend with their families and to go to church. There is not a person in the world that can convince me of this.

I was upset, beyond upset! I had been looking forward to going to Hobby Lobby all week. I did a Hobby Lobby dance around the house! I can't go by myself, not with the puppy. This was my ONLY chance and it got ruined by employees having to worship? I am all for worshiping, but come on! This is just silly! Micheal's and Joanne's were busy busy busy, and obviously taking all the business away from HL since they were in an adjacent shopping center. And good for them!

Next time I get a chance to go to Phoenix I will have to make sure it fits in with HL's prayer schedule.

That is my rant, and it is over.

75 Degrees here...

It feels like spring. Unreal. It is almost Christmas and it is 75 degrees outside.
I have been going crazy lately. No time to go into my studio yet having tons of orders to fill. Not to mention holiday gifts.

Today I did get some time and decided to turn a ring I had made a few weeks ago into a necklace. Had a dream last night about turning it into a necklace. So I did it, as my dream told me to.



I also make this great druzy ring. I love it. I have been wearing it all day. It fits my finger like a dream. I really should take it off, and put it away with all my other items for sale.

Tomorrow my mother and I are picking up the glass balls we made at our glass blowing lesson. If only I had millions of dollars and all the time in the world!
We are also going to find an 'Art-O-Matic' machine. Ever hear of these? You insert a $5 and get out a piece of artwork! I'll post about what we get!

New Stones

I went to the Tombstone Gem & Mineral Show today. Not too many vendors, but my Mexican Jelly Opal supplier was there! That made me a very happy girl!



Matching (as close as one can come) opals for earrings. Bigger ones for rings or pendants. The fire in these are amazing! I can't wait to get into the studio.






These were too neat!

Cabs made from dinosaur bones! Had to get a few to have fun with!

Winner of my Dec Giveaway

Watch the video to see who won my December Giveaway!




I don't want to, but need to get dressed. Poopstone's Gem & Mineral show is starting today at 10am. I must get dressed to go. I swore I would never step foot in that town again, but the thought of lushish cabs overpower my dislike for that town.

New Baby

Our new pug puppy. She does not have a name yet.
She is starting to bond with Gup Gup our five year old pug. They have been cuddling for the last half hour. So cute. I hope that Gup Gup adopts this little one like she did with all the kittens.

Puppy slept from 10pm til 5am which made me very happy. She slept in bed with us and cuddled with Peter for most of the night. It was too cute!

She eats a lot! My goodness! Remember there is only one letter differentiating Pug and Pig!

It is so difficult to get a good photo of a black pug. The flash washes out all their adorable details. Tomorrow once the sun is shining I will try to get a better shot of her to share with everyone.

In other news, my mother and I had our glass blowing lesson today. The instructor did most of the hot glass handling, but we got to blow it and design it! I made a pretty pink glass ball with blue 'pimples'. My mother made a pink ball with gold pimples.

It was so much fun. I wish the studio was not two hours away. Otherwise I would take classes there every month! So much fun. I love working with glass and should really start making stained glass again. I have my carnivorous plant window I still have not completed and a Tiffany pattern bat lamp I haven't even started yet. There needs to be more time in the day!

These last three days have been exhausting and I have been ignoring all my duties! I have 4 new turquoise earrings to take photos of and put in my shop tomorrow, as well as two orders to package up and ship out.