New work on my table

Over the weekend I began a new series of bracelets. They're for my niece's bridesmaids.
The wedding is in May at the Princeton Harbor in Half Moon Bay, so the bracelets will have a beachy feel.

The colors the bridesmaids are wearing are a periwinkle or teal.
Of course, there are silver shell charms, pearls and swarovski crystals.
It's a very happy time in our family.  Friends and family will be here from all over the country. My young men will be home.  
I'm so excited and honored to be a part of our dear niece's wedding
Lucky me! I get to make jewelry and celebrate love while I'm at it.

xoxo

Shell Baby

Last weekend I finally finished my little shell baby necklace.
That poor little dear has languished on my bead board for two years.
How is that possible? She was so sweet and I was so unsure what to do with her.
Finally, enough was enough and I sat down and finished her.

In some ways I felt she looked like she was someone else's project. But now that she is finished I know this piece is all mine.  I am learning new ways of making jewelry and loving it.

I like telling a story, using found elements. Although I have been working in mixed media jewelry for a few years now, not many of my buyers seem to like the results. Oh well, onward in the name of self expression...

xoxo

Why I love Anthrpologie!

I love the Anthropologie stores.  The displays are always so creative and every store is unique.
Last weekend I was at the Anthropologie store in Burlingame, CA.  I was blown away by the mannequin in the window.  She was dressed in a gown of pleated fans of old dress pattern paper.
Around the collar were wooden laundry pins strung into fans cascading down the dress around the waist.


It was such a fabulous example of pure serendipity and unbridled creativity! 

Even in the rain streaked window she looked magnificent!

Not only was the lovely dress in the window a piece of art, several other displays were amazing too.

The paint chips as a wall mural-

How much do you love this?

And then there was the tableware display with huge rope nets and vintage glass fishing floats.

All this and more is why I love Anthropologie!

XOXO

My first post of 2011

Oh my dear friends, where have I been? 
First, let me say I have been on a very strong antibiotic regime for my ongoing Lyme Disease. At first it wasn't so bad, but here it is mid-March and I haven't written one blog entry. The meds seem to take all of my energy and there is little left for other.
"Other" meaning things I love, things I care about and keeping up with anything that isn't on my A list.
I've learned what chronic illness is about.  It's a take away game, where as time goes by there is less and less of who you thought you were. 
I forget...
I put off until tomorrow or the next day or week or...
I watch all of the swirling energy of the people in my life and wish...

One wonderful thing I have done is participate in The Brave Girl's Soul Restoration.  That was fun and inspiring. Ms. Melody Ross and all the Brave Girls were fantastic! It felt like a way back to who I am, and in some ways it was. The most useful part of the 6 week internet course was what I discovered about my life right now-
I gave up on myself.
That's right, I forgot, put off and stared so long I had completely given up on myself. 

So here we are and I am back to my blog- Yipee!
I am also back making jewelry.  Happy jewelry with art glass and silver and colorful sparkly things. I will be sharing those soon.
XOXO

The Last Day of 2010

It's a gray day on the coast.  Looks like the way I feel about the last year.
There were some good times and some dark times.
Our health continues to suffer, making my spirit feel gray and weak.
I am happy to let this year go and a new one begin.

Tomorrow begins a new year and each day I will try to live like this quote from Buddha:

Each morning we are born again.
What we do today is what matters most.

XOXO

Did I say Bacon? The Baconator Rules!

Hi friends!  
I'm hoping everyone had a delicious Thanksgiving weekend.
I am bursting at the seams to share our Bacon Turkey adventure!
While in L.A. two weeks ago my dearly beloved caught some episode on the Food Channel about a bacon wrapped Turkey Breast.  That idea became the Holy Grail of Thanksgiving this year.


The weekend before Thanksgiving we did a trial run and it was delicious.  Unfortunately, we ate the left-overs until Wednesday.  The next day we did it again for Thanksgiving!  It was even better, we had gotten the initial quirks out of the dish, however by then it was a little hard to choke down more leftovers.
Fortunately, our son, Rob gladly took them home with him.


I'd like to share our delicious process with you.  (Pardon our pictures of mugging for the camera!)
1. Buy a boneless turkey breast (we used a butterball)
2. Butterfly the breast and pound it slightly to flatten.
3. I made a stuffing ahead of time of Couscous mixed with mushrooms, onion, garlic, red pepper, celery, thyme, salt and pepper. (You could really get creative, use your own recipe, whatever you feel is festive!)

4. Spread the stuffing on the breast, roll the turkey breast into a bundle and tie it with twine.
5. Make a latticework of woven bacon on wax paper.  Place the Turkey roll on the top of the lattice and roll towards you.  This will make a woven bacon cover for your turkey roll.  Place the wax paper turkey roll in the refrigerator to set.

6. Fire up the B-B-Q and grill that bacon turkey goodness!  We started on high and took it low to cook for about an hour and a half!

Woo-hoo!!  We christened it the Baconator!

Here's hoping your Thanksgiving was as delicious as ours was.
XOXO

Rejuvenations

What is new in the studio?  Since mid- October I have been ripping and gluing in my latest journal.
I took a weekend workshop with the amazing Ms. Kelly Kilmer called Rejuvenations and haven't been the same since.
I took the class to have a breakthrough in my art.  I wanted to let it all out and play like never before on paper.  Ripping tearing gluing is good for the soul.  (Not to mention a new fascination with decorative tape!)
Yesterday I filled the last page and can't wait to continue adorning the journal with writing, taping and glitter.
Whew!

Here are a few photos, more to come-

Love from the studio,
XOXO