I love January....and Sundays...

January is always full of promise for a new year, and Sundays allow the time to daydream and plan.  So, I'm just now finishing up my tea, and considering making another cup.  Wonderful breakfast invention I'm calling the "California Sunshine Scrambled Tofu Bowl" has been enjoyed by all, and there might have been cake.  Because dessert, we love dessert.  We are allowed dessert if we eat healthy veggies and protein first.  And, I did sub in half whole wheat flour.  And no frosting - doesn't need it.  ha ha...

Quickie photo of said bowl of healthy goodness, and the recipe:  

Tofu Bowl - California Sunshine with Orange Tahini Sauce

Serves 2

4 oz sliced mushrooms

1/2 medium red onion diced

1 large jalapeno, diced

1 box silken extra firm tofu

1 teaspoon spicy Mrs. Dash

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon turmeric

fresh cracked black pepper to taste

4 cups fresh baby spinach

1 avocado, sliced

2 T toasted sunflower seeds

1 orange peeled and segmented

Sauce:

3 T tahini

1 heaping teaspoon white miso

1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

juice of 1 lemon

zest from one orange

juice of one orange (at least 1/4 cup)

pinch salt

Make sauce:  wisk everything in a small bowl, adust texture with water or additional orange juice.  Should be pourable, but not thin.

Preheat pan, add 1T extra virgin olive oil, or 2T water if you don't use oil.  When hot, add mushrooms, diced onion and jalapeno, and saute about 4 minutes.  Add water to prevent sticking when needed (just a little at a time).

Add tofu, break up into pieces in the size you prefer.  (I make mine into scrambled egg-like texture).  Sprinkle over spices, and saute another 2 to 3 minutes, adding water to prevent sticking.

Add spinach, and stir until wilted

Put into large flat bowls.  Add sliced avocado and orange segments, top with sauce and toasted sesame seeds.  Enjoy!

With the sun peeking out between the clouds, my mind is turning to bright new jewelry ideas perfect for a Sunday afternoon.  Speaking of new jewelry ideas...  This large dragonfly ring is one I made for my mom a couple of years back, and always intended to put in the shop, along with matching pendant, earrings, and whatever else I can think up.  I love the combination of the opal with the silver and brass.  It reminds me of the iridescence of a dragonfly's wings in the sun.  

The ring is now in the shop, and a matching pendant is waiting to be photographed and listed.  I'm thinking about earring designs.  I've needed a new dragonfly earring design for a while.  Hopefully one will happen today.  We shall see.  I've been known to get distracted by all pretty stones lying on my bench and making something totally unrelated to the plan.  Ha.  Until next time the blogging spirit moves me....bye for now.   

 

Change

 

Some things change and some things don't, which is basically everyone's story.  I was feeling nostalgic (because 2020 makes me want to remember ANY other time ha ha...) and thought I'd see if my blog was still out here.  I really thought I would just retire it, but like boxes of old pictures and letters (those old enough to remember paper will understand) opening it up took me on a journey of remembering. The beginning days of jewelry making, the wonderful friends I've made along the way and how much this new idea of selling art online has changed and evolved over the years. It is quiet and reflective to write a blog post away from the frenzy and insanity on Facebook.  So, I guess I won't retire the blog.  I miss the days of finding beautiful handmade artwork on Etsy and the long gone 1000 Markets to post about every week.   Maybe some day soon another site will pop up for handmade work to shine again.  I hope so!  Meanwhile most of us are still here, making, but just a bit harder to find among all the mass produced and cheap knockoffs that clutter everything these days. In fact, I'm currently fighting my own Chinese knock-off and stolen image battle, but that's a story for another time.  Back to what changes and what stays the same...

I started this blog almost 14 years ago to the day - November 2006.  That seems like 100 lifetimes ago!  But remembering how I felt about making jewelry then, and how excited I was about starting my metalsmithing journey made me realize what stayed the same.  I still love making jewelry every bit as much as the day I made my first pair of earrings.  But, around 2010, things really took off, and the 8 years between 2010 and the fall of 2018 were a blur of crazy production and little time for friends, family or much of anything else in life.  Except that I did manage to squeeze in a sweet Tennessee Walking Horse named Cloudwalker, who lived on a glorious farm about 15 minutes from my house.  From 2016 to November 2018 he was my bliss.  Sadly, one of the farm owners passed away and our lives all changed. That period of time seems like a lovely dream now, but I'm hoping another horse will come into my life when the time is right again.  Change forces itself upon us sometimes.

More changes... A flooded studio forced me to close my Etsy shop. The studio renovation to permanently fix the water issue was on hold.  I realized how burned out I was, and that I had to just breathe. I went part time.  I got a "real job" for just short of a year.  But my mom's memory and her macular degeneration continued to change.  I needed to be at home full time. I "retired" early with the help of Social Security.  I found a lovely little part time contract bookkeeping job, on top of part time jewelry.  Then...more changes....2020 arrived with a disaster a week. The little contract job went away.  Change again.  Part time jewelry and taking care of my mom full time now.  I love cooking for my mom because she loves to eat - an appreciative audience is a wonderful thing!  I'll have to stay part time on the jewelry until I reach full retirement age.  Didja know you can't work full time in self-employment (even if you don't make much money) if you are on Social Security prior to full retirement age????  So I have a little over 2 years to create my new, more sustainable, more balanced, jewelry empire that will support me in my old age. Creative change.

Meanwhile, I'm baking and cooking. A LOT.  What you see here is my whole wheat sourdough loaf.  Makes the best breakfast toast ever. Avocado toast.  Guacamole toast.  Almond butter toast.  We love toast in this house. 

I also remain very busy as "staff" to my sweet retired racing greyhound Arkans BD Doc (just Doc for short). I adopted him this past January, and have been in love since the day I met him.  Good thing.  He continues to expect toweling off if rained upon, regular massages, and he also expects a daily schedule to be maintained.  He keeps me in shape on our walks as long as I take him somewhere interesting.  If it is not an exciting and new place, he will spend forever sniffing a blade of grass, or staring off into the distance.  This is not really exercise for either of us.  In this photo he is checking out a cardinal way up in the treetop.  Greyhounds are sometimes said to be not "real" dogs.  This may be true. They may be cats in disguise. More stories on this later.  I never get tired of talking about greyhounds.  You've been warned.  Check out one of his races - this is one of my favorites - you'll see why.  He was a fast boi!  I'll also probably talk about Greyhound racing now and then.  I've met so many great racing people since I got Doc. I'm sad to see what is happening to the profession. These dogs are loved, and I promise you they LOVE their jobs.  A retired racer (or several, more is better, ha ha) is a privilege and a joy to share your life with.  I'll end with Richard Skipworth's excellent illustration of "walking" a greyhound....

And yep, I'm working on a lot of jewelry.  That will be another post.  Theoretically I'll be posting regularly.  But don't hold me to that, no promises, ha ha.  

Back to blogging!

Ok.  I'm officially starting up my blog again - really! There have been a lot of life changes since I last posted, not the least of which was a partial remodel of a portion of my house for my mom to move in with me back in the fall of 2012.   We have both settled in nicely now, and are enjoying each other's company.  My mom is also an avid gardener, and we have split up the yard - she gets the front yard (I'm no dummy - this is the most visible part, and it's looking gorgeous now).  I have the back yard and vegetable garden.  The trees have gotten larger and larger, so full sun is a thing of the past now.  We have learned which veggies will grow in partial shade - and tomatoes are one of them, surprisingly.  The fig tree is also thriving, and we actually got 15 figs this summer!  No photo, we ate them all as soon as they were picked!

Perhaps the biggest change has been that both of us have lost tons of weight and gotten crazy healthy. We have become "nutritarians", which is a mostly vegan lifestyle heavy on veggies and salads.  I have invented many new salads, and make all my own salad dressings with nuts/seeds/herbs instead of oil. Cooking without oil is not as hard as it sounds, and nut-based salad dressings truly taste better than oil based.  Definitely not a low fat diet, as the nuts, seeds and avocados keep us very satisfied.  You can even make a fantastic chocolate pudding with avocados!  I'll definitely share some of our favorite recipes here shortly.  You can find out more here or here.  I started eating this way back in 2012, and have never missed my old diet or the weight that went away, lol!  One of my favorite snacks is apples dipped in chocolate tahini and pecans, yum!  You can make the chocolate tahini dip by mixing together 4T tahini, 1T cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and about 1/4 cup of date paste (made by whirring up water and dates in a high powered blender).  I will say eating healthy definitely requires a high speed blender like a Nutribullet or a Vitamix.  I use the Nutribullet, which works great for less than half the cost.  Someday I dream of owning a Vitamix, though.

The next biggest change is that with all the weight loss and health, I've gone back to riding horses, something I love, but hadn't done for 30 years.  I have always wanted to be a serious dressage rider, and am well on my way to making that dream come true.  I'm working with an instructor once a week, (2 hours away, unfortunately), but was lucky enough to come across a wonderful horse farm only 7 miles away from me where there was a horse that needed to be ridden. I get to ride Cloud Walker, a 19-year-old Tennessee Walker as often as I want on 65 acres of rolling hills and woods. It is a perfect complement to the long hours at my jewelry bench - allows me to breath fresh air and get exercise that is actually fun.  Yes, riding horses is every bit as much exercise as going to the gym!!  You can see Walker here doing what he loves best - sneaking in a bit of grass whenever he can.

Jewelry business-wise things are as busy as ever, and I still have tons of stones and not much time to make one of a kind pieces with them. But....I am working on that!  Here's the stone I think I am going to set next.  Soooo.... that is all for now.  I plan to fit in a post here and there to share horse stories, recipes, and news from my jewlery bench.  We'll see how that goes, lol! 

Hello Again!

 This is a quick blog post while I have a cup of tea with lavender to note that I have not permanently abandoned my blog.  My poor blog has taken a back seat to my increasing business (yes, I might be a workaholic) and to Facebook, Twitter, and now, especially Pinterest.  I love Pinterest!  Finally a place to store tons of recipes that doesn’t take up real space, ha ha…

Anyway, I have been very busy this last year, both on Etsy, and with my own new website and online shop.  I built the site using Shopify last November, and I really love it.  (I highly recommend Shopify if you need an ecommerce solution!)  It has kept me crazy busy since the holidays last year, and I have stopped gardening, cooking, and almost everything else.  I’m now taking a deep breath, and trying to get a bit of life balance going, where I can get back to creating new recipes and pulling my garden back together.

The garden has been doing fine without me, though.  I’ve learned that yes, I did plant way too many perennials too close together when I started out.  A few too many trees, too.  I kind of have a forest on my hands now. The birds love it, though – the cardinals raised two sets of babies this spring!  And lots of lovely English ivy (which came from nowhere, I did not plant it!)  preventing the weeds from from growing – yay!  I’m keeping it under control with the lawnmower, so it’s not taking over.  It’s  raining now, or I’d run and take a photo of  the great patch in my front flower bed.

I have also made quite a few artisan rings this year with my ever-growing stash of stones.  I even kept my favorite one for myself – I actually have a “signature” piece of my own to wear now!   I used one of my favorite deep blue labradorites, and and Ethiopian opal.  I’m loving the Ethiopian opals, which I think are just as lovely as the Australian ones.   I’m working on new opal pieces for the shop, and one of  the first  is the Enchanted Garden ring.  I think the opal looks really great with brass (or gold would be even better).


So that’s all for now, a lick and a promise before I get busy on orders down in the studio.  Who knows – I may cook something and post the recipe, or even *gasp* go out in the garden and take some photos one of these days.

Born from a Meteor, and Flashier than a Diamond - that’s Moissanite

 

I love custom requests from my customers because they quite often lead me in a direction I might not have gone otherwise.  I”m pretty firm on  using only ethically mined natural stones without additional treatments and dyes in my jewelry.  Because of that, I pay very little attention to anything created in a lab, and had never heard of Moissanite until my customer requested it.  It does occur in nature, but so rarely, and in such small amounts that it has never been available for jewelry in its natural form. 

Moissanite was first discovered by Henri Moissan when he was looking at rock samples he had collected from Meteor Crater in Diablo, Arizona back in 1893.  He thought they were diamonds at first, but a few years later, he identified the crystals as silicon carbide.  (Years later, the mineral was renamed Moissanite in honor of Henri’s discovery).

The mineral was controversial for a long time, and many believed it was carborundum contamination from abrasive tools, and until the 1950’s it had never been found anywhere other than a meteorite.  In the late 50’s it was found as inclusions in kimberlite.  Moissanite is very rare, and has now been identified as inclusions in diamonds, kimberlite and lamproite in addition to meteorites.

In 1998, the company Charles and Colvard created a proprietary process to create moissanite in a lab, and it now regarded as an excellent diamond substitute, with optical properties and light refraction that actually exceed those of diamond.   I can vouch for this, it is truly a stunning stone with incredible sparkle!  This Moissanite video from Charles and Colvard shows a bit of the history and what it looks like.

I’m working on several pieces using moissanite that will  coordinate with the Iceflower ring.   Definitely some little silver flower stud earrings to start with, then some more urban linear designs, I think.  Anyway, just excited about a sparkly stone that’s a little more affordable than diamonds, and nowhere near as boring as that old standby cubic zirconia.  My main focus will always be ethically mined natural stones, but sometimes different is good!  (By the way, my photos here definitely do not do justice to the actual sparkle of these, just so you know.)

Garlic and Lemons and Bumblebee Jasper

I love lemon and garlic together, especially when it’s hot outside. Garbanzo beans are good with lemon and garlic, too. Hmm…actually that’s why hummus is so good – lemon juice, garlic and garbanzo beans….but I digress. (hummus also requires expensive Tahini, which is outside my budget at the moment). This is about the inexpensive but very yummy pasta salad I made yesterday. I’m trying to increase the amount of veggies in my diet, and maybe lose some weight, too. And save money to boot - eating on the cheap is pretty much a necessary skill for a self-employed artist. This little salad is simple and quick and a very satisfying summer supper.

Lemon Broccoli Pasta Salad

(makes extra salad dressing, too)

1 cup olive oil

3 large cloves garlic, put through a press

juice and zest from 2 large lemons

1 can garbanzo beans

1 box penne pasta (I use DeBoles rice pasta – gluten free)

2 nice size broccoli crowns, stems chopped and flowerets broken into small pieces (about 2 cups)

1/4 cup of toasted sesame seeds

1. Whisk together the garlic, lemon juice, zest, and olive oil and set aside.

2. Cook pasta according to directions. Put broccoli in the water with the pasta about 3 minutes before it is ready to come off the heat. Drain broccoli and pasta and put in large bowl.

3. Open and rinse can of garbanzo beans, toss with broccoli and pasta. Pour lemon-garlic dressing over pasta to taste. There will be a nice amount of dressing left for your salads, too. Add salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds, and enjoy.

For a more hearty version, add: feta cheese, kalamata olives and grilled tuna. Yum!!

Now, about that bumblebee jasper – what a lovely stone! Bright true yellow is not something very often seen in jasper, but this stone has beautiful yellow running through it like ribbon candy. It comes from the fumarole fields of the Mount Papandayan volcano in West Java, Indonesia. This particular cab is going to be a ring very soon. Think I’m going to name it “Sun Soul”. I’ve got a lovely little faceted yellow sapphire that might the perfect accent stone for the setting. We shall see, anyway. That’s all for now, time to head down to the bench!

I think I’ve been gone long enough now…..

Yes,  I needed a break from blogging and some time to think.  It’s been long enough now, and I’ll be easing back into it over the summer with bits about new work, a few of my cooking and eating adventures, news about my sadly neglected garden (which, by the way is thriving without me, just not very neat, ha ha), and maybe even some book reviews.  I listen to audio books while I work in the studio, and I definitely want to share some of those!  It’s time to revive the “Sunday Morning Coffee and Etsy” posts, soon, too.  The new circles feature at Etsy has helped me discover tons of great new artists whose work I’ve fallen in love with. 

Anyhow, I’ve been working hard and contemplating where I’m going to go next with Lavender Cottage – definitely time to grow to the next level.  The first step has been moving away from an all made-to-order business and building up an inventory.  Making everything to order meant that there was never any time to work on new ideas, and my shop was starting to get stale, not to mention all of the “uncreated” ideas crowding my brain to get out!    It’s been hard to work fast enough to catch up so I can start working on new inventory, but it’s finally starting to happen.  I actually listed more than one new piece this week!!  Most are everyday pieces made to coordinate with customer favorites.  I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.

Here are some new Pebble Road bangles made from square wire.  (I’ve got more square wire designs up my sleeve, too. ) These are oxidized for a rustic feel, and go beautifully with the Pebble Road Wrapped Oh pendant and Pebble Road stud earrings.

 

There is a new buttercup ring in all sterling silver rather than mixed metals too.  The Summer Meadow ring, along with a cute little pair of earrings that I named Honeydrop are a great little set.  They can both can be set with moonstone to coordinate with the Moonflower cuff, too.

 

I’m working on a new all-silver buttercup pendant which will be set with a citrine to match these.  It, too, can be set with moonstone for coordinating with the Moonflower cuff.

 

 

Another new piece made this week is a pendant that continues to explore the  “torn” metal idea that I’ve always enjoyed working with.  Simply named ‘Torn’, it was made to coordinate with with the Pebble Road Posts and the Silver Pebbles ring.  While I was making this one, I almost set it with a diamond as it looks sensational with a sparkly faceted stone instead of the little silver pebble.  One like that one will go with the Ice Whisper ring – methinks I’ll be making myself one of those quite soon!  And if set with a labradorite, it will go great with the Galadriel’s Song ring. 

I’m also whittling away at my pile of unset stone, my very favorite thing to do.  The latest of these is “Plumflower”, a lovely little sugilite cabochon accented with a tiny bloom and swirl of silver.  Had fun making this.  I’m in a swirly mood these days, and am working on great flashy Sunstone ring embellished with a few swirls for this week.  Just have to get the swirlies soldered on and the stone set and it will be ready. 

Soooo, that’s it for now, but stay tuned, because soon every piece in the shop will have at least one other piece that goes with it.   Just trying to get organized  -  I know, it’s about time, lol!

I’m not making any promises about how often I’ll be blogging, but let’s just say it will be more than once every 7 months!  See you ‘soon’!

Sunday Morning Coffee and Etsy – 10/10/10

Good morning!  Well, I just couldn’t let a date like 10/10/10 go by without a blog post.  Yes, I have been very sporadic this year in my blogging, haven’t I?  Last post was 8/29/10 – I need to do better – I still find lots of gorgeous new things on Etsy, and I feel bad for not sharing them more often.  So, let’s get started on today’s wonderful collection…..

I happened across this shop a while ago, and quickly saved it to my favorites.  The message and the look inspire me – Less and More.  I am on the verge of a gigantic decluttering of my house and studio, and although my style is not modernist, I love the clean simplicity of  these beautiful and very useful pieces.  I can  definitely use a few of these mixed in with my cottage style decor.  Some of these can double as sculpture too.  The chopstick holder is wonderful – much better than hiding them in a drawer.  Makes me want to go out and buy some fancy chopsticks.  Not only that, now I’m craving Chinese food! 

What I really need, though is one (or many) of the desk organizers.  I especially like the nice-sized Crafting Cindy version.   Both my shipping desk and my jewelry bench would benefit greatly from a few of these.  

I’m considering moving my studio out of the basement and into what is now my packing and shipping room/bird room.  I’d love to be upstairs, and it would be fun to be able to actually have “decor” that inspires me rather than cold cement walls.  I came across this wonderful embroidered lavender pillow in the shop of Polkadots and Blooms.  What a great name for a shop filled with wonderful, and yes, very useful, fabric treasures!  

These handy little cloth storage baskets (small size pictured here – the also come in medium and large) would definitely help out my clutter issues and look great while doing it.  The exterior fabric is mangle cloth, a vintage linen fabric  between 60 and 100 years old.

 

I was also thrilled to find a shop, The Creative Gene,  this morning that sells handmade cotton dishcloths.  My mother started making similar ones for me years ago, and I am totally addicted to them now.  Unfortunately my Mom doesn’t always have time to keep making me more of them.  I fell in love with this lovely stack of 3 discloths aptly named Violet Petals.  My kitchen has a wallpaper border of potted violets, so these are completely perfect!

You’ll find other beautifully made items in this shop such as baby blankets, hats, and this wonderful crocheted storage basket that is a perfect fit for storing your handmade dishcloths!  Now I’m totally inspired to go do the dishes and clean up the kitchen – have a great week everyone! 

Sunday Morning Coffee and Etsy 08/29/10

The weather is beginning to cool ever so slightly, and the anticipation of Fall is definitely in the air for me.  Fall has always been my favorite season.  Even though it’s been longer than I care to admit since my school days, I still get that ‘back to school’ feeling of a fresh start that  brings on  a  surge of creative energy.

So, freshly inspired by the cool breeze and the upcoming season, I actually made something new for the shop this week!  The design idea for this ring, which I have named Ice Whisper,  has been in my head ever since I made my Galadriel’s Dream cuff a couple of years ago.  I’ve always planned to take the concept into a whole series of pieces.  I particularly enjoy forging the organic '”torn” look  -  it gives me a chance to play with my wonderful Fretz hammers.      This ring is definitely my new favorite, and there will be more with colored stones – especially the gorgeous

apricot sapphires that my stone supplier just got in.  This color looks good enough to eat!!  

Speaking of gorgeous stones – I’ve had the Glimmering Gems Etsy shop in my favorites for quite a while, now.  I follow them on Twitter, too, so I always know when they get something new in.  Their shop carries truly inspiring and unusual rocks and gems from the mines of Uruguay and Brazil.   I discovered this breathtaking Amethyst Agate Geode Sphere the last time I was browsing through their shop.  What a  stunning specimen!!  It measures 86mm (about 3 inches in diameter).  I would so love to have this in my collection!  I’ve always been partial to amethyst in any form, and the wheels are turning in my mind on a way to use their beautiful stones in one of my designs.  This gorgeous stalactite slice is on its way to me as we speak.  I’m inspired already, and can’t wait to put hammer to metal for a setting that will hopefully do justice to it!

 

Something else that I always get excited about is Steampunk and Victorian inspired jewelry.  I found the most incredible shop this week  -  Aranwen’s Jewelry, created by Vicky from Athens, Greece.  There are so many beautiful designs in her shop, I didn’t know what to look at first!    I’ve always loved unique watches, though, so her cuff watches are something that I am definitely drooling over.  My favorite is the stunning  Silver Wings design – I’m in love with it!  Might have something to do with the cute little amethyst rhinestones will coordinate nicely with the colors in that yummy stone that is on its way in the mail.

Another cuff watch in her shop that I absolutely love is the beautiful brass Baroque Goddess design.  A more petite design, this one has a lovely romantic feel to it that is hard to resist.   Vicky creates each one of her pieces herself from a unique array of gorgeous components, and her talent for creating unique beauty is apparent in every piece in her shop. 

Well, coffee is done, and I’d better get the day started, so I’ll wish everyone a great week!  Talk to you soon……..

Sunday Morning Coffee and Etsy – 08/15/10

Good Morning!  Hope you are having a wonderful weekend wherever you are.   It’s still hot here, but I see that perhaps it won’t be in the mid 90’s every day for too much longer.  I can’t believe I’ve made it this far through a summer in the South with no air conditioning.  I’m considering it “character building” – never say I don’t suffer for my art!  But even this doesn’t make me consider going back to the corporate grind – I love what I do, and business is growing.  It will be fixed for next year, of that I am sure!

With keeping cool on my mind so much these days, I thought I’d do an Etsy search for “stay cool” and see what came up…….

First thing that caught my eye was this great photo of a vintage  fan from the Foot Candle Images shop.   What a treat to discover the work of the very talented Rhonda Peters.   Her shop has a lovely mixture of photographic styles from sharp and colorful to ethereal landscapes and

mesmerizing closeups.  I think my favorite of all is the tranquil beauty of this lily pad in Magnify – just looking at it  makes me feel cool and serene. 

Another search for “summer cool” brought me to the Soul Song Creations shop, and this really wonderful and unique serpentine and rustic brass necklace.  What a great mix of colors in a classic little necklace!  As I browsed through the other treasures in this shop, I fell in love – I have definitely saved in my favorite shops list!   Her work with texture and color is just inspired.  Another necklace that I loved is this painted brass disc that has been paired with dusty rose jasper.  Exactly my style, and I think I’m going to have to have this one!  It makes me want to go out and stroll in the garden right this minute in my white linen sundress…..  wait, let’s do a search now for “white linen sundress”.  Yep, I knew something good would turn up – here it is, from the Toccata shop:  White Orchid Linen Dress  and it can be customized in any size.  I can see either one of the Soul Song Creations necklaces adorning this lovely dress.   Toccata’s shop is  located in Manila, and is actually a bridal shop with some really fabulous custom made wedding dresses along with .  Check out the Rambling Rose You can see the complete wedding gown collection at her Michi Calica website.

And so my Etsy travels end for today.  We started with a vintage fan and ended up with bridal gowns.  You just never know what direction you’ll travel when you start browsing through Etsy. 

So, the cool of the morning fades, and I’m turning on the 2nd fan.  Time to retire to the basement studio.  Have a great week everyone!

Monday Morning Inspiration 08/09/10

The world is filled with inspiration if you take just a moment  out of your day to look.  My friends and I often talk about how none of us has any time for the things we used to take for granted like a spur-of-the-moment weekend getaway, simple shopping trips, taking in a movie, basically just taking the time to enjoy one another’s company.  We are all just so Busy. All. The. Time.    Busy as Bees.

I don’t even have an excuse – I work for myself at home, and I STILL don’t have any free time.  So I have decided to simply start taking the time to enjoy the things that make me happy, and sharing them here on my blog.

One of the things that has always made me happiest is music – all kinds of music.  To say that my taste in music is ‘eclectic’ is an understatement -  chaotic might be a better word, lol.  Anyway, much of what inspires me is related to music, and although I don’t have the money that I used to have for purchasing new music, I am still able to find plenty of it on the internet, both old favorites and new discoveries. 

I’ve been a fan of Vangelis since the early 80’s and have just about every one of his album releases.  I’d never looked him up on You Tube, though, silly me!  My all time favorite Vangelis composition is “Message” from his "Direct" album, and I thought it would be perfect for this week’s Monday Morning Inspiration.  You can’t help but be pumped for the week after listening to this!

Sunday Morning Coffee and Etsy 8/8/10

I hope everyone is enjoying this warm August morning.  I must admit it’s been a bit toooo “warm” here in East TN this summer – hope it’s better where you are!  For me, the good news is that fall is in sight, only weeks to go now….. Meanwhile, I am spending quality time with my fan, and trying not to melt, ha ha.

 

Now, on to the Etsy treasures that inspired me this morning.  First is a pottery (yes, I’m still addicted to pottery, can’t get enough!)  shop that I recently discovered – Village Clayworks, which showcases the whimsical work of Catherine Reece.  Soft cool pastels and charming birds and bugs adorn her pieces, and you can’t help but smile when you look at them.   I love every one of her pieces, even the cockroach cereal bowl (not so sure I could eat cereal from it, though!)  My favorites are her bird pieces, though, especially this Bowl with Birds Around.    This smaller Bird Bowl is on my wish list, too – in fact, I think a whole set of dishes in this pattern would be great fun!

And if you are looking for an unusual gift, perhaps one of her mugs like the Dung Beetle Mug or the Praying Manis Mug will be just the thing.  These little gems even include a helpful little inscription about their subjects.  Cute!

I have always loved birds – both in art and in life, and when I saw this  gorgeous seagull photo, titled Icarus,  in an Etsy treasury, I immediately marked it, and ArtoCard’s shop, as favorites.   Another of my favorite photos from her shop is titled Hover.  The perfect focus and the way the light reflects off the wings is amazing.  Makes me want to concentrate on getting better at my photography.  I have so many wonderful opportunities for great bird photos in my own back yard, but alas, I am the world’s worst wildlife photographer!   Definitely take a browse through the ArtoCard shop to check out other amazing photos of birds and other wildlife.  She is able to capture movement like very few photographers I’ve seen.

Since I had birds on my mind this morning, and I have been looking for a new handbag since the zipper on my favorite bag is now broken, I thought I’d do a search for bird handbags and see what I could find.  I was delighted to find this brand new Etsy shop, Artistic Accessories, that specializes in hand painted bags.   This little bird bag especially caught my eye since the leaves on the branch match the new copper pendant design that I put in my shop this week (and no zipper to break, either).  I love making those heart shaped leaves, and it’s great to find accessories that also use a similar shape.  

I think I’ve inspired myself to go down and create something new today while I am working on getting a good start to the coming week’s orders.  I’ve had some new leaf designs in my head for a while that need to be brought to life in time for fall.  So, time to get to work!  Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!