exciting / boring

L - Nikon / T - Nikon

I received the most beautiful piece of art in the mail today. It's a Puffy Wall Heart with Birdie Love Bird and I am in love. This piece is beautifully crafted of porcelain. Now I just have to find the perfect place to hang it. Don't you just love etsy? I have to say I'm sort of addicted to shopping there. / i was pretty excited when i first got those packages from amazon. but then i remembered mom had ordered all my text books from there... not as excited anymore. but truthfully i do like my classes so far, i'm just saying this isn't exactly my idea of pleasure- reading books.

expression of love

photos by Taylor

The holidays were great and now it is back to work and school. We had fun times with my family this holiday. There were big birthdays to celebrate (my younger brother turned 50 this year and the twins turned 10). Our actual gift giving didn't take place until the 28th with stockings, and presents, and hand-painted Santas, and games, and puzzles, and hot spice tea. But it was kinda cool - when everyone else was back to the usual day-to-day, we were still celebrating and enjoying the holiday. The dogs enjoyed playing with the children and visa versa, and the kitties learned to tolerate each other, I believe, even enjoy each other. The New Year was brought in with our own fireworks display and roasting marshmallows down at my campfire, fire writing, story telling and laughs and then... everyone had to head back home.

Taylor got an extended time off but I had to get back to work. And it's been, or seemed, like one of the hardest work weeks yet. Working until 1am one night and til 10 another night really threw me off - hard after having so much relaxed time at home I guess. But... while I was away working long hours the kitties slept together, Taylor took some photos of my rings for me so I could add a new listing to my shop and even cleaned the house - isn't she sweet. Now I have made it through the first week back and hope to get back in the groove real soon. I've been a bad blogger friend for way too long now. I want you to know it certainly is not personal. I appreciate all of you who continue to visit. Please don't write me off your list just yet.

is it early? / is it late?

solo post - L, Nikon

What? It's too early! It's not even Thanksgiving , you say. I know, the autumn leaves haven't even fallen to the ground yet. And no I have not decorated my house (I do my decorating the weekend of Thanksgiving). I'm just doing a little photo shoot for one of my etsy sites – I'm preparing to list a few new items. Do you remember the paper ball ornaments I made last year ? I think maybe I talked about a little bit about a family craft session where we all made these wonderful ornaments out of repurposed Christmas cards. We all get cards that are treasures, ones with special messages from special loved ones, etc, but we also get a lot of cards that have no special meaning to us after a certain time. Through the years I have collected a lot and my mom has collected even more. We are putting these cards to good use by making ball ornaments. They look beautiful on the tree and the best thing is they are very light weight and unbreakable - a great thing when there's a cat around. / It might actually be too late to list Christmas items on my etsy site. Some people think a lot further ahead than I do. But I'm going ahead with it. I am going to list these little journal booklets (Christmas card list, journal, wish list, menu planner, or guest book -whatever you want to use them as) made out of repurposed paper that I get at the office - perfectly good paper that is thrown out for various reasons. I also put a printed 2011 calendar at the front of the books and a few sheets of graph paper just for fun. It's nice to have a little book to jot things down in.

So I guess it sort of is time to start thinking about the holidays whether we like it or not. I bet some of you have already checked off everything on your shopping list? Not me for sure.

P.S. I hope this isn't bad of me to self promote but who else is going to do it right? I moved my ring shop to a different address on etsy so I'm going to go ahead and say it... my rings can be found HERE . They might make a nice gift for someone on your list. wink wink

shiny / bright

L - Nikon / T - Canon

I polished up a few of my spin rings, shiny and bright, and now I'm comfortable to share some with you. I'm still working out designs but I'm starting to feel encouraged that I have something wearable. Have you ever worn a spin ring? They really are addictive - fun to play with, especially if you're a fidget. / this is a week of studying and test - i like to come home and light a candle or two. it makes it calming and nice.

a little pouche / a knapsack

L - Nikon / T - Canon

Metalsmithing is my past time these days (I finally got my studio set up at home) and as a result I haven't been taking photos - I haven't even done any blogging lately. But I did take this photo last Thursday because I wanted to share it with you. Isn't this the cutest little bunny purse? I ordered it from a fabulous designer on etsy. Taylor liked it so much I think she's going to want to borrow it sometime. I love etsy. About this time of year I start looking on there with gifts in mind. I think maybe other people do too... so I'm hoping to add some of the rings I've been making to my shop real soon. Do you do have an etsy site? Do you have any tips for getting customers? / i was looking for my knapsack today and this is where i found it. behind the curtain... with bunny.

hearts / love

solo post - L, Nikon, iphone

A simple dinner alone, eaten at the kitchen counter. That sounds so sad and pitiful but it's OK. She went back to school last night and the house is quite and I am alone once again, but there is a calm and I'm ok - really. We had such a great holiday together and the gifts haven't stopped. I got something in the mail just today - a Christmas gift from Taylor that was late in arriving. And I love it. It's a very cool leather camera strap from an etsy artist. Don't you love it when someone knows just what you'd like?

mail delivery

L - solo post, Nikon

My mail box is usually filled with nothing but junk mail, every once in a while there's a piece of important mail (got one the other day for my tag renewals) but this time of year it's more catalogs than anything. However, today I got two pieces of mail that I was very excited about. Show tickets and handmade cards from a special friend.
When T was home a few weeks ago we drove downtown and saw a huge tent set up where they usually have the Cirque du Soleil tent. However this one was white instead of yellow and blue so we weren't sure what it was for. Then we saw... Cavalia is coming to town. This tent we saw is the largest touring big top in North America. The show... a larger-than-life fairytale - blending dramatic visual effects, live music, dance and acrobatic with the bold presence of over 60 magnificent horse. I just had to get tickets. The only day that T would be able to go was on 11 -10, so I went online and it kept coming up that none were available. I thought I would have to give it up. but I decided to make a call. Turns out the entire place was bought in groups but a representative called me the next day and said she had some tickets - really good tickets. We will be seated eight rows back, middle right, just one row back from premium seats. I can't not wait! I put those tickets in a safe place. We'll just say it's an early birthday present to myself, and T gets to reap the benefits as well.
See those beautiful cards there on the left? I bet most of you can recognize who did this lovely work. Elk recently opened an etsy shop and I went shopping there as soon as she did. These cards were packaged so nicely and I have to say they are even more beautiful in person - you can tell they are truly made from the heart. I'm not sure if I will be able to part with them - might just frame them for myself instead of writing a letter on them. You should check out her shop for yourself when you get a chance.

notes / memories

click on image to read better

Ok so I'm the one coming up short tonight, so I took this photo. This is what I see right beside my computer. As you can tell, I love accents of red - my favorite little red pen, a big red heart, tiny red berries, bold red books (just because they look good on the shelf) - and there's more red all around the room. The quote that is sitting there is something I wrote on a post over 10 years ago and it's been around ever since. "Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly." - St. Frances de Sales. That's a good motto don't you think? / "she carries a lot of suitcases but all of them are empty because she's expecting to completely fill them with life by the end of this trip & then she'll come home & sort everything out & do it all again"- story people
mom surprised me by ordering this for me from a vintage etsy shop. my friends were with me when i got it and we all took guesses as to what was inside the big bubble wrapped package. we were right. i'm going to fill mine with college memories. (and there will be some epic photo shoots to come using this bright orange suitcase.)