Hot Diggity Dog

Goodness, it's been a long time since I last wrote. Been meaning to get back to the blog and the studio but the holidays, travel, work, family and friends have all kept me busy. Hope everyone had a good holiday. I think I'm now getting my mojo back. Organized my closets, cleaned my car, etc. No more excuses not to be creative and bead. How about you? Are you doing what you love? If so, comment and tell me all about it. I love to listen.

If you have kids and you have time (I know, that sounds a bit contradictory) keep my friend Adrienne Sylver in mind. She is doing what she loves- writing. This May her book Hot Diggity Dog comes out in stores. It is a children's book with fun filled facts about the hot dog. Look for it in stores near you.

Long Time No See

Hey all,

Sorry I haven't blogged in quite a while. Been creating for the holiday season and tending to family activities and work. My youngest daughter had a drama competition this weekend. While she was there I cleverly snuck in a trip to our local Harvest Fest. I had heard it wasn't very good last year. I think I went the year before that and was disappointed at the lack of creativity. I know I was disappointed at this year's church craft show. So I vacillated between going or not and much to my surprise this year the Harvest Fest was pretty good. I found one lady who makes these sun hats out of honeycomb paper. She calls them yaya hats. Very unique. Check out www.yayahats.com. Then I found a photographer who takes black and white photos of architecture and things in nature that look like alphabet letters and spells out words with the pictures. For instance , the letter "R" may be a picture of the side of a bench whose metal handle and leg resemble the shape of an "R". An "S" might be a picture of an "s" hook, etc. Very cool. Check out Jasen Williams' work at Victory Illustrated Co. on Facebook. I was also happy to see lots of people buying handmade items. Sold two items myself from my shop this week, too.

Kudos to my daughter and her friend. They did great on their skit at the competition. I was very proud of them plus I got to go back and watch some of their piers perform. They were all so very talented. Crafts and a show.... I had to run around a lot to get her to her competition but it was a very relaxing weekend because I really enjoyed reveling in all the creativity out there.

Will type again soon I hope. More new stuff should be going up in my shop this week. Meanwhile check out Etsy Black Friday on Facebook. Lots of great artists to buy from for the holiday season including me : ). Let me know what you think of these links.

Etsy's Black Friday Extravaganza

Hey all,

Been a busy week. College fair for my big one and my little one was in a play and did great. Kudos to her. Just a post and run and I will try to type more this weekend. I am participating in Etsy's Black Friday Extravaganza. Stop by and check out all the wonderful artists on Thanksgiving weekend. Lots of sales. You may find something great for a holiday gift.

Etsy Black Friday Extravaganza

Featuring a Fellow Crafter

Wow. Two posts in one day. Yay. Just wanted to tell you about a fellow crafter. She is a customer of mine. We made some awesome earrings together the other day and she wound up telling me about how she is making greeting cards. Please stop by and visit her Etsy shop. She has cards for all occasions.

Check out KRIATIONS

Tiny Treasures

Ah, finally a moment to type. Been scouring the area for tiny finds for jewelry, the holidays, and some birthdays. Have always loved October because it starts the craft show season where I am. Unfortunately the church craft shows just haven't been what they used to be. It seems many of the crafters can't compete with the low cost of things made elsewhere and then sold for less at places like CVS or Walmart. That makes me sad because I used to love to see the originality and clever ideas people would bring to these shows. One year the hot item was a bird feeder for your front yard that was a cat with a feather hanging out of its mouth. You had to see it. It was adorable. It was selling like hot cakes. Ah well, I digress....I did go to an antique show with my mom and found little trinkets. Found some lovely skeleton keys and buttons that look like milk glass. Also found an interesting thing called a "Lenticular". People would advertise their business on it many years ago. Maybe I can do something funky with it. When you tilt it , it makes things look like they're moving. It is the little dancing guy in my picture here. Also bought these great buddha heads from a local shop. Oh my goodness, they are incredible. Each one is like a little tiny work of art. They are made by buddhist monks and signed on the back. Don't know what I will make with them but I got six. They are just so unique. Be on the lookout for something made with them and the big holed pearl you see here. Do you do that? Do you buy something because it speaks to you? It is just so unique that you have to have it even if you don't know what you will create with it. You figure you will figure that out later. Well enjoy your day and comment back. I love the chat.

Winging It

Arranged for my mom and friends to watch my kids and dog and my hubby and I got a much needed break this weekend . We drove to Tampa to see U2 on tour. We had no tickets and no hotel room but we didn't care. If we didn't score tickets I might be disappointed but at least we'd have gotten away and had some time together. If we didn't get a hotel we, or at least I, figured we'd just head south and find something. Well we had a nice ride over and when we got there we did find some general admissions tickets on the floor. Wandered around and tried to trade up.

U2 has to be my all time most favorite band. I like much of what they stand for; helping people in need, peaceful resolutions, etc. Got into the stadium at about 5. The set was awesome. A huge spiderlike/spaceship looking thing with a 360 degree screen. The tech crew was hoisted up into the leg of the set and suspended in mid air to run the spot lights. The stadium was packed.

Some people do not enjoy being in big crowds like this but it has always energized me and amazed me at the same time. My faith in humanity is always reaffirmed when I see sooo many people together working and gelling and getting along. Being short I discovered that a great place to stand is on the platform that covers the electrical wires. I gain at least an inch. We found a great pretty unobstructed spot and hung there. They always give an interactive concert. They always get close to the crowd, this time walking all around the inner and outer stage and across a bridge that moved. At one point the band asked the whole stadium to take out their cell phones and it was just a sea of cell phone lights shining all around while they sang. So beautiful and magical. It reminds me of when people do "the wave" at football games. Thousands of people working altogether. Don't think anyone got hurt. Why can't the rest of the world respect each other and do the same?

The concert finished and we could not find a hotel in Tampa but I didn't care or panic. We headed south and did find one. Winging it was not bad at all. A tiny adventure. Time away from my routine life. My mom, the kids, and the dog all survived fine. So I am now re-energized with new songs to play in the studio as my muse.

Need Reviews

Well thank goodness for the weekend. It was a busy week. Started off with bead night with my other bead night babes on Monday. Posting some pics of some of me and my creative babes. We had a great time brainstorming about what works and doesn't work for our jewelry designs and in business in general. I needed to bounce ideas about color and placement off of them. Do you do that with friends?

Then worked at my store. Met another interesting customer. Discovered that her grandfather manufactured one of the name brand vacuum cleaners many of us use today. She was so cool. Her family is now involved in preserving a local national park and she had lots of wonderful information for my daughter who is interested in marine bio.

Got in a little bit of exercise. Not enough though. Took the dog for a long walk and then biked 4 miles. The dog was happy for the walk.

At the end of the week I actually worked and finished the bracelet I'm posting. Check it out here. Leave comments and tell me what you think. I was going for a bohemian, buddhist look. Do you think I achieved it? This one is the prototype and soon I will make another to put up in the shop for sale. Let me know if you want to order one.

Ended the week so far with a nap today because I was run down and fighting off a cold. But all and all a pretty productive week.

Lastly, please do your part for breast cancer awareness this month. My best friend's sister and my walking buddy just had a mastectomy yesterday and I have too many family and friends who have had it.