Open House Prep

I'm having an Open House this Sunday. I'm close to freak out mode. It's nice to be close to freak out mode sometimes. I get a lot done... now when I actually hit freak out mode, that's when everything falls apart and I just cry and cry and cry. It's annoying being a weeper sometimes but I can't help it.

ANYWAY, I think I'm almost set with the jewelry and I just need to focus on the displays. I've never done this before and so I'm spending an awful amount of time looking at DIY displays. And Pinterest is the perfect place to put my lovely finds.

This awesome ring box was made using a cigar box and an old sweater. How cute is it? I don't have any rings to display but maybe some stud earrings?? Instructions here.

Beth Millner used some copper pipe fittings to make this display. Is it a coincidence that I featured Beth's owls in yesterday's Monday Muses? And then I found this display randomly on the internet??? Hmm... I'll have to make it! Check out her blurb on it here.

Bracelet display! I have a ton of bracelets to show. Love what they did here.

Ok. Back to creating. Happy Tuesday, everyone!!!

Monday Muses: Hooooot...

Orange Owl Print by OrangeOptimist

Night Owl Jewelry by BethMillner

I LOVE that ring...

Burrowing Owl by rctees

Brown Bird Bag by retrofied

Owl Stationary Cards by Ringocrafts

I love owls. They've been pretty popular in design for a while now and it seems they'll be popular for a while.

They used to frighten me. Nightmares of owls swooping over me in the dark of night... but then I saw an owl one night in high school. It's hooting woke me up which was strange because it didn't seem that loud. I saw it perched on the brick wall separating my parents' house from the neighbors. Not sure how long I stood staring at it but was just so beautiful.

I made these earrings today. I really love the pair with the seed beads.

I'm a happy girl today.

Stupid Sleeping Pills and Tub

I'm still having trouble sleeping. Last night, at around 1am, I took a sleeping pill and fell asleep a few hours later feeling very loopy.

I woke up this morning... ok... really, around noon... and was very very groggy. But I had to get up.
 

I got in the shower... and I slipped. I fell out of the tub, hitting my lower back on the edge and landing on the stone floor more or less my upper back.

At the instant of falling, my instinct was to twist so I would fall on my back instead of my side... I think I would have hit my ribs against the tub instead of my back if I didn't twist.

My arms came up over my head and I remember holding my neck up so I wouldn't hit my head on the floor.

I know it sounds silly but I really feel I was lucky. I lay there afraid I had hurt my back pretty bad. My legs were all tingly and I crawled out of the bathroom and called my boyfriend. Of course there was crying and I was freaked out but I'm actually ok.

My lower back hurts, my left shoulder and neck are sore... it all hurts something awful but I am ok.

Thank you, God. I was so scared.

How pathetic is it that, for a few seconds, my major worry as I was on the floor was having to go to the emergency room? Not that I might have done real damage to my back or maybe I really did hit my head but that I would have to go to the emergency room and I couldn't afford it?

Life is so short. Too short for me to worry all the time about money and where I'm going to live in the next few months.

And I am just so tired of being stressed out and worried all the time. It's keeping me awake and affecting my health. And I know that I can't just stop being worried all the time but I am going to make (another) effort to try.

C'mon, Life. Let's get this party started.

Things I learned laying in bed sick most of the day yesterday:

-Sleeping does wonders for a cold... and a wallet since I didnt leave the house at all.
-A good book can do wonders when you cant sleep but are too blah to do anything else
-It's ok not to feel hungry but you must eat something or the next day, you will want to eat your weight in chow mein.
-Listen to your body. When it is tired, REST. duh.

BTW: Sicky

I set this up on my bead table... oh... 4 hours ago. Maybe 5.

Dizziness set in. And I went to bed. And there it still sits.

Maybe I will take pictures tomorrow.

I feel like I've been hit by a bus.

My Poor Shop

Been working on pretties for a submission.

All of the above are now in a padded envelope at my editor's office. My favorite is the first pair of earrings.

I've also been working on some affordable single wrap bracelets. Probably price them at around $6 each.

But even these pretties won't be making it into my shop right now. They're going off to a fundraiser sale for my cousin's home school group on Friday (I think...), along with some studs and hair accessories I've been making. So busy... and none going into my shop.

I must make something for my shop. I must... maybe tomorrow. But for now, I think I can make a few more bracelets before dinner...

Monday Muses: Buttons

 Beautiful Blue Vintage Buttons from oritodan

Gold Flower Shank Buttons from ButtonFinder

Vintage Amber Topaz Glass Buttons from yummytreasures

I've been playing with buttons again. They're just so adorable. Here are some pretties from Etsy. Loving the amber buttons.

Craft Displays

I took a break from creating today and went shopping around for potential craft displays. I'm planning on having an open house in a few weeks which will technically be my first "craft fair" and want to have a pretty table. But I went shopping without a real plan and came home empty handed.

So, I came home and jumped on Pinterest. LOVE Pinterest. Here are some displays I found which I'm going to try out:

I saw some cracker baskets like these at the Goodwill for $1 each... I'm thinking buy some for these studs I've been working on... maybe for my button blossoms... I'd have to spray paint them because they're a funny yellow-brown color.

THIS is GENIUS. A paper towel holder turned bracelet display. And I just love the idea of building a display UP first and then out.

I am definitely going to make this. I have a TON of cardboard boxes at home. I'm thinking maybe decoupaging the cardboard with some pretty paper? You can find the plans for this display here.
 

Lots of pictures and plans for candle stick holders and bowls, plates, or frames. LOVE. I'm thinking maybe doing a big frame with some stout candle stick holders and turning it into an earring display.

You can view more of my pins on Pinterest here.

I'm really very excited... though I'm not sure what the turn out will be like. But I have to try, right?

Hope you all had a lovely Sunday!

<3

December Treasury

Made a treasury for December. Mostly blue topaz... which is such a pretty color.

I'm getting sick again. I guess I'm not taking very good care of myself. Been working on making new pieces and finishing submissions. I'm not sleeping very well. Stress stress stress O_O

Lol. It'll be over soon... hopefully. I can't wait for Thanksgiving. The good food and the family. I'm very excited.

Well... back to creating!

Oh Gosh, That Color Again???

Just ordered some flower cabs from shopgeorgiamiss. Aaaand I wound up with this as one of my items:

Mint green... honeydew... sea foam... I'm just in love with this color.

Even made a design board (a la bloggy hero, Lorelei Eurto):

I started making design boards last week and I'm thinking about my jewelry in a different way. Like as I'm designing and sketching, I ask myself, "Is that really wearable?" and "What would someone wear this with?" It's interesting just how much looking at clothes is influencing my sketches.

... I popped in the first season of Big Bang Theory and it's distracting me from writing this blog... I love Sheldon.

Happy Friday everyone!

Time for lunch?

Woke up and had a rough conversation with my student loan people. "Loss of job" is a silly reason to want to change the day of your student loan payment, apparently.

SOOO, after breakfast, I dove into finishing up a submission I'm turning in on the 15th... a few hours later, I knew it was time for lunch when this happened:

I remembered to check the knot before closing this cover... but I trimmed the ends BEFORE checking and sooo, I can't make the knot bigger. AAAND... I got mad and growled and my tummy responded with it's own growl and that's when I made myself some quinoa and veggies.

Will redo the bracelet tomorrow. :)

Also made some hairpins. Love? I love. :P

Friday tomorrow! And Veteran's Day! YAY!

BTW: No Big Eye Needle?

I'm not sure where my big eye needle has gotten to, but I was too lazy to go out and buy a new one. Sooo...

I just put one end of the memory wire into the bowl. If I didn't get the angle right, the beads would just jump out of the bowl and into my face. Lovely, no?

Lots of sketching today. I even got to work on my ballerina drawing. Above is a detail of the ballerina shoes. Ah-dorable, if I do say so myself :P

Hey look! Tomorrow is Thursday! Then it will be Friday and the weekend will be here. YAY!!!!!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Legos

No Printer Tray Tuesday today. I spent two days in my hometown with my brother's family and did not go home until this morning... and because the boyfriend missed me so much, we went adventuring.

The highlight of my trip (other than my sister-in-law's yummy food) was building a Lego train set with my brother for my nephew Kai.

 My brother with my nephew. My nephew started out SUPER into it. Even built half a car...

Then he started to lose interest in the building process. Here he is playing with what I built.

Three hours later, at 11:30PM, the train set is complete. My brother announced that there were no batteries to which I replied "Ok then, I'm going to bed."

Kai didn't make it past 9PM. LOVE YOU KAI! <3

Monday Muses: Cherry Blossom

 Copper Blossom Branch Cuff by HapaGirls

Gun Metal Cherry Blossom Earrings by beladonnajewels

Whimsical Cherry Blossom Ring by LolaAndCash

Cherry blossoms are so dainty and feminine. I'm not sure if it's their color or their shape but something about them is so beautiful. So cute. Precious. And delicate. Love them.

I'm currently at my brother's house absorbing the love his family has. I've been having trouble sleeping lately and last night was the first night in weeks I slept 7+ hours straight... once I actually managed to fall asleep, that is. :P I think it had something to do with the yummy chicken soup my sister-in-law made. I had two bowls of it... lol.

My baby nephew. He's going to be 5 months old in a week. Isn't he adorable? He looks just like his daddy. 

My brother, the baby nephew, and his big brother... I stole the pic from my sister-in-law... SHHH!!! :P

I'm recharging my batteries. My baby nephew's giggles, me playing with his big brother, eating my sister-in-law's good food, and watching how my brother just loves his family- this is what I will think of when I hit a low spot, which has been a lot lately. And when I think of what I want when I "grow up," the happiness and love they have for each other is what I want... but don't tell my brother that. Siblings don't admit that stuff to each other :P

When I go home tonight, I'll be ready to tackle my magazine submissions and plan an open house (hopefully).

Happy Monday, all! Let's have a good week this week, k?

Work in Progress: Ballerina

Last night, daylight savings time ended so I thought I'd use that "extra hour" do start a new drawing.

Sorry the picture isn't very good. I only had my camera phone.

It's a ballerina on tinted paper. It feels good to be working with colored pencil again. Not sure what I'll do with it after... sell prints, maybe?

I stayed up really late thinking "Oh, so, it's 3am... but it's really 2am... so I could probably stay up another hour..." And then woke up really late (though my phone informed me I got 7 hours of sleep... don't feel like it was that much). Siiiigh. Really gotta watch the sleeping habits. Lol.

I'm off to visit my parents and brother's family in a little bit. Excited to see my nephews.

Happy Sunday, all!

Just one more pin...

Omg, Pinterest. I love you so much...

I've already found a ton of crafts I want to try out. You can see them on my board here. I absolutely adore this site.

Happy Saturday!

Friendship Bracelets

Just listed some friendship bracelets to the shop tonight.

I love this quote: "Never shall I forget the days I spent with you. Continue to be my friend, as you will always find me yours."

Happy Friday, all!

NaBloPoMo: Music and Writing

This month is National Blog Post Month. The goal is to write a blog post every day! I love it!

Today's prompt from NaBloPoMo is:
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Can you listen to music and write? What song did you hear today?

Music is such a powerful force. Even if the music/song is in another language, one can form an opinion instantly about that piece- love, hate, indifferent... It's amazing.

When it comes to writing, if something is playing, it has to be instrumental or in a different language for me to write without becoming distracted. On a deeper level, the music cannot be depressing or too intense. For example, I like listening to some Sufi or Hindu music while I write. But some of the chanting can be a bit depressing. On the same note, the Harry Potter soundtrack can also keeps me from writing because some of the pieces are dark... beautiful, but dark.
 

Today, I worked while listening to an audio book. I can immerse myself in jewelry making or design better when there is an audio book playing. Better than with music. I'm not sure why that is. Some part of my brain is listening to the story while another part is focusing on my hands wrapping wire or adjusting fonts on the computer. It's interesting because if I were listening to music, I stop frequently and have to look at who is playing or even dance.

Now, when it comes to drawing, I can listen to anything- music, audio book... a lecture. I think that comes from doodling in class when I was bored...

Sometimes, however, silence is what I need most. When I can't focus on my task or when my head starts to pound, I turn the iPod off and just close my eyes and focus on my breathing and heart beats.

That is a kind of music itself, I think. The music of someone's life.