The Fire Sale Is On!

Here are a few of the newly listed items that are on sale in the etsy shop! And one that sold! I loved that one!

And the one that sold! I just love blues and greens!

The Etsy Shop

FIRE SALE!

The sale continues today! I'll be adding a plethora of new SALE ceramic bead and pendant bundles to the etsy shop today! The FIRE SALE continues this afternoon!

A Long Time To Make.

If you are anything like me you see something, fall in love and then HAVE to have it! I think that is particularly true of jewelry artists. I have been collecting beautiful pieces and treasures over the years and sometimes they just have to sit a while before I know how to use them. Sometimes that precious bit or bauble comes with an idea but evaporates from my mind when I get it into the studio! That was the case with the the beautiful silver ring I used in this bracelet. It was destined to be a necklace component! Or not. Clearly not, because now it is a bracelet component! Several years ago I purchased the beautiful swirled ring from Lynn Davis' etsy shop. My how time flies!

SALE! SALE! FIRE SALE! Baby needs a new pair of shoes!

Among other things so we are burnin' down the house! It's a fire sale! The ol' etsy shop is nearly over flowing with deals on ceramic pendants and beads! Get em while their hot!

She Said Yes!

He secretly learns how to ride a horse. She loves the ocean. His proposal was as romantic as it gets! On horse back, by the ocean, he proposed. His romantic proposal was the inspiration for a necklace my friend Lynn will be giving her sister as an engagement gift. Pearls and sea shells for the ocean, a heart with their initials on a heart represents their love, and a special horse shoe!

Lucky.

It was lucky that our renovation project VW van was parked where it was. It was lucky it didn't fall an inch this way or an inch that way. It was lucky that no one was hurt. It was lucky in so many ways that I can't even think of right now. At 5:30 AM we were awoken to a crunching cracking thud! I knew instantly, even from a deep sleep what it was and where. Our poor old VW van was parked just in the right spot to catch a huge arm of our gigantic California live oak. The sun wasn't even up yet but in the dim light at that hour I could see the damage. The van caught the limb only inches from our new bead buggy and our other old reliable car. Inches from our phone and power lines. Our poor carport was not so lucky. There may be a bit of roof damage but nothing compared to what could have happened. We've loved our giant tree. Parked outside our kitchen, we've watched raccoon families amble up its trunk. Squirrels chase and chatter at each other, round and round, up and down. Birds peeked in at us while we ate and chatted. Hearing the acorns drop on our roof from lofty heights when the wind blows in the fall is a ritual noise I look forward to. But now it is all gone. The whole injured tree endangered our little house as the Hagrid-ish tree man told us. We consoled ourselves at a local nursery trying to pick out a new tree, even as they were working to remove the giant in our front yard. Maybe a mango tree. Maybe a fig. Something that doesn't get too big or decide to "self prune" on our house. Now after two days of chain saw noise and heat wave temps, it is in pieces all over the yard, ready to be useful and beautiful in other ways. So much healthy mulch for the rest of our yard. Beautiful logs to stay and become part of the landscape. Lucky.

Oh! Really Can't Wait For Fall!

Not that I don't enjoy the mind melting temps offered up by the season (can you hear the sarcasm?) or the struggle to keep the kids occupied while I get work done, but I seriously can not wait for fall. Not only for the change in temps or the back-to-school shopping trip but for the fall issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry! Check out the preview page on their website! Goody! Bring on the fall!

Sisters

Magnolia asks me for a sister. At least once a week. Sometimes she asks for a twin and instead of going into the harsh reality of that not being a possibility, I grant her, her wish in fantasy. "A twin! How exciting that would be! What would her name be?" And in a perfect world, where I would not be considered a "geriatric mom", money grew under our feet, and I had the patience of a saint, a little sister (or brother) would be a wonderful gift (Calder is pushing for a brother, by the way). Three is the magic number you know. It is hard to explain to a four year old that sisters are not always the ones you are born into the same family with. I know this from experience. Sometimes a sister is a most precious gift of a person who you are not related by blood. She is the one who you can call on with a choke in your voice and tears in your eyes, about the sister you were not allowed to know. Who consoles you when your children have run amok and you are positive that you have scarred them for life.  Who appreciates you and makes you want to shower her with gifts and laughter. I only hope that Magnolia finds "sisters" in life, like I have found mine.

She Breaks My Heart.

Every time. But in the best way. Not broken from sadness but, because it is so full of love that it shattered into a million pieces. Bursting from all the love. She proclaims at least 3 times a day "Mama. I don't want you to die. I love you so much and I would miss you!" She is only reflecting her world around her. At four she is full to overflowing with questions about life. Of course these questions only unlock new questions. I love her for it. Keeps me on my toes....

Support!

Check out Andrew Thorntons blog! He is auctioning a beautiful necklace for a great cause...

HURRY!

Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthedeathlyhallows/

Who am I?

I sat there seething, torn between wanting to leave and wanting to let the angry verbiage flow. I could feel the adrenaline pumping and my heart was racing. Surely they can all see it's snake oil being peddled?

I am a skeptic. Through and through. When someone want's to sell me something and it has a sales pitch to go with it, my fight or flight reflexes kick in. As a nine or ten year old, I would question if the toy they were trying to sell me on T.V. was as exceptional as I was being told or if it was all smoke and mirrors. Smoke and mirrors would have usually been more fun.

So, half way through our monthly Made In Ojai member Co-op meeting, in the middle of our heated debate about space sizes and the epic, monolithic stature of my new and apparently hated display (it is a tale for another day....) we were asked to listen to a sales pitch. What was being sold? Nothing that I hadn't seen before, but it was being sold in a whole new way. We've all been into the new age shops and seen various crystals touted to protect us and our fragile chakras. The person addressing our group had clearly done this before. What was she selling? "Millions uf specially developed micro crystals, invisible to zee naked eye!" She proclaimed with her beautiful european accent. Where were these millions of micro crystals? "In zee middle of zee high quality resin!" She said enthusiastically as she passed around samples of pretty, diamond shaped pendants. Looking more like large glass tiles, tinted with different colors than the metaphysical device she was describing, I thought "Oh! Pretty!" As they passed around the circle, going hand to hand it was explained to us that a scientist (apparently with many an ailment) developed these to help protect us from EMF's (electromagnetic fields) which make us to unbalanced and cause illness. To prove their effectiveness she asked for volunteers. A woman stood from our group. Mind you we had been sitting at our meeting for about forty-five minutes, the volunteer was asked to stand on one foot, hold her arms out at her sides and resist when when her arm was pushed on. Standing on her left leg, the woman pushed on her right arm and over she went, unable to keep from falling. Over and over again. Now, she asked if she could place one of the pendants on the volunteer and asked her to wait a few minutes while she explained more about them. This is where the smoke and mirrors comes in. The time passed and she asked again, "Stand on one foot with your arms out." This time she pushed on her arm and the volunteer remained solid as a rock, unwavering. WOW! Fantastic!

And this is where I have a problem. She didn't push on the same arm as before. She pressed down on the opposite arm, the one that had the leg firmly planted on the ground. Also, having been standing for 5 minutes her body was allowed to adjust from the sitting to standing position. What does this have to do with emf's? Are you kidding me? "How much?" someone asked. "Thirty-six dollars. That is the wholesale price for you today. They regularly sell for..." are you ready for this..."Sixty dollars." And she said it with a strait face! I asked "Did you say sixteen? 1-6 dollars?" Nope. $60.

She was performing the same demonstration on another member of our group and I was about to comment on what I had noticed, when another of our group got up and wanted to purchase one. At our last meeting, this same member revealed to us that they were fighting cancer. I couldn't say anything. Who am I to destroy that hope? Who am I to say that this thing wouldn't protect them from electromagnetic fields? Maybe they just thought they were pretty?

Who am I?

I hope it does work.

Can't wait!~

This is one of the bracelets I wanted to make for the Lavender Festival. It didn't get finished in time, so it is now at The Made In Ojai store. Better late than never! I will be loading the kiln this AM and have a few new items that will make it feel like Christmas when I open the kiln tomorrow! A few ideas came to me from working with silver art clay. Can't wait!

Ojai Lavender Festival (I love my small town!)

In spite of my car obsessing mindset, I had a great day with Madeline and Yvonne at the Ojai Lavender Festival. We get along so well! I've known Yvonne since 1989 and in 1991 she officiated our wedding! We've got history together and it is good! It was a good day to be a skull bead in our booth. They seemed to walk out all on their own! Having a friend to hang out with made it such a great day. It was such an exhausting day but we had fun. So many people stopped by our booth just to say hello. I just love that about our small town, every day is filled with warm hellos and greetings. You can't walk through town and not see a familiar and friendly face. I know we'll be back next year!

Happy Independence Day!

We did it! We have a new bead wagon in the family! We found a 2005 Toyota Sienna van and It feels so good to drive down the road and feel pretty certain that you'll make it to where you are going! The kids love her too and are excited about taking trips.

A happy 4th to all!