I love a rainy day...

it just gives me an excuse to stay in and make jems all day! LOL! Actually we've had nothing but sun so my yard and all it's treasures could really use it and I'm tired of the &$*@^# sprinkler! It never fails - I always put it in the wrong spot (you know, so it's watering half of the road or the driveway), then I end up running in there between swoops, trying not to get completely soaked...a million times to get it in just the right spot and it never works! LOL! Rain is just so much friendlier!
So anyway, it was a perfect rainy day so S and G (the people) and I spent the day down in my art room. G lost interest fairly quickly but S was really into it. She really wanted to know about the wire and how to work it with the pliers. A mini-me! I love it! Watch out world! LOL! I'll have to get some pictures of her creations and post them. She'll dig that! I actually got quite a bit done and thought I'd post some very first draft pictures.






I just love these little stack rings! The color is bad and I'm too tired to take more but they are copper and sterling and fabulous! This flower with the yellow stone is so darling. It's sterling and I used that pineapple quartz I was so excited to get! It is my new favorite stone! I just started to do some stamping and it's fun! I like that I can incorporate it with my wire work, which is really my love. The other flower down below is my fave! It has the coolest shell bead and is coppery and silver. LOVE! It is so pretty in person. I have to get a nice sunny day and get some pictures that will do all of them justice!
Hope you guys are having a great night/day! Keep smiling!

gorgeous!

I just have to share these shots from my garden! Since I'm in Minnesota, USA - we have some seriously, ridiculously, and I mean CRAZY cold winters. I am a southern girl at heart so I REALLY look forward to these nice warm months! As much as I am loving my new-found soldering self (I just want to make jewels all day...LOL), I had to spend a day outside for sure!
So, I inherited this mad-wild garden from Art and Dorothy (the previous owners of our home). Don't they sound darling??? Too cute indeed! Anyway - I've got flowers galore and it turns out I kind of like to dig in the dirt myself! It was a perfect 75 today with not a cloud! Cut the grass. I LOVE cutting the grass. I love the time to myself, I love the feeling when it's all done and *manicured* and mostly, I LOVE THE SMELL! They can bottle it, but there's nothing like the real deal...
It was just a great day! Here's some shots. I love taking pictures! Again - it's my craft/hobby/try new things ADD! I know I have it! LOL! I'm so glad I live in a digital time - I take so many it's ridiculous! Hope you all enjoy them, hope you're all smiling today and I wish you could smell this fresh cut grass...

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This is the coolest EVER!

Well, maybe not to you guys, but to me! I finished that bracelet today! I am over the moon excited! I can't believe it started like this:

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And ended like this:

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I added some opal and purple jade briolettes to give it a little subtle sparkle. I didn't want too much bling because I liked the simple, rustic feel it had. I know it's not perfect but for a first try, I'm cool with it! Now, to sell it on Etsy or not??? I don't really want to part with it! LOL! My sales haven't been off the charts (another story, for another day...LOL) so maybe I'll give it a try! Now that I know I can do it, I can't wait to make more anyway!
I am in such a jewel mood lately! I just got out of a painting mood. I swear I think I have craft ADD! LOL! I found the coolest local bead store recently and I just fell in love with so many of the jems there! I picked out a few yesterday:

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Now I have to make more...LOL! I'm loving the pineapple quartz I found. Who doesn't want to wear that all summer??? It's the prettiest, palest, perfect yellow. Loved the carnelian, amazonite and chalcedony too!
Off to create...

Etsy YART sale

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Almost forgot! Check out my YART sale section in my shop for 25% off selected items and check out all of the great deals going on at Etsy June 10-14th!

AAAACKKK! The solder!

Well, I said I was going to do it (to myself anyway) but that counts still. Teach myself to solder. What did you think? LOL! I had been capped out on my jewelry making for quite some time now. Years really. SO? It takes me a while to do things sometimes??? I get to it eventually! Anyway, today was the day and it was a loooooong one! LOL! I had never soldered so that was a huge learning curve. You know that crazy solder just does the weirdest stuff? It like curls up into these little circles and then just melts and then it won't melt and I kept checking to see if the damn thing was still on and then it just melts all over - stuff you don't want it to... it's a *medium* I'd not seen in person - like something in a sci-fi movie. It's like a blob! LOL! It was for sure a trial and error. I got the hang of it eventually - kind of! Working the metal - that was the easy part. I had visions of the curves I would eventually create when I got here in my head forever ago! I just worked with some plated silver with a copper core to start (didn't want to waste sterling on a first try, just in case...) but I love the look actually. I'm not into super *shiny*, so I love the rustic feel it ended up having. I soaked it in some LOS (liver of sulphur - this oxidizes metal) then polished to a semi-shine. I still want to add a hint of sparkle with some beads - too tired and OVA it all at the moment but I'll post more pics tomorrow! In the end I came up with my very own fabricated bracelet! YAY! I'm like the OCC! Love those choppers....

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Also figured you might be curious where I do all of this so I'm putting up some pics of my art room too. It's just a half-finished little spot in my basement that I carved out for myself and it's been so fun to have my very own space! I painted the brick walls, the cement floor and I have big old doors propped up that I use for desks and working areas. It's no big shakes but it is to me!

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Happy night to you all! Hope you all learned something new today - or even better - taught yourself something you've been wanting to do.
Smiles!