My bowl and my contribution.

Okay so I do not want to bore you with my Peters Valley stories. I will just say it was a great experience even though I heard the fine metal department bonds the least. I think we did just fine. Thanks to Lauren and Karen for the ride down to lunch on the days I did not have my Jeep. Well every Sunday after lunch the Peters Valley staff gets an auction together that is open to the public as well as the students. The workshop teachers, helpers, and even students auction off their creations. You can get some wonderful pieces for a great price for even a better cause. The funds are given to Peters Valley to continue their great class offerings from well known designing teachers in all different art fields. Check out my bowl I won that was created by Alison from ceramics signed and dated. Thanks!


Here is my created donation. I am sending these off to be auctioned off during their Sunday fun. I know someone there will heart
Peters Valley like me and gladly give money to wear it with a smile. Thanks.



Here are our rings after a good tumble. Shiny things are so hard to photograph. I can see all kinds of things in that photo even my daughter. Today I poked a hole in a thick piece of paper to take a photograph of a bracelet. I just stuck the lens of the camera through the hole and at least I could not see myself. Although it is definitely not professional or taken in a fancy photo box, but if it sells and the person loves it than it works. Look at the bracelet to see the piece of paper. LOL!

Now doggy tags, what's next?

I am not sure what is next for sure, but I get so much inspiration from my designing customers. I had a similiar charm for sale on Etsy. I had sweet customer contact me to see if we could stamp her dog's name and her number on the back. I thought sure I can do that, I think? I knew I had to start from scratch if I was doing stamping and to fit the name. I had to postpone my creating until I came back from my week away at Peters Valley. So this is what it looked like before I sent it off to it's new owner. It just arrived today and Gidgette's owner was happy and I quote. LOL! "WOW. I absolutely love how the birdhouse pendant turned out." Thank you for letting me create it. I look forward to opportunities to practice my skills.

I am back and I heart Peters Valley

Here are some things I made while I was away. I made some new wedding bands for my husband and I, but I do plan on tumbling them to a shine. I made a faceted stone tube setting ring and some copper heavy gauge earrings. I was away for a 5 day metalsmith workshop. I took my family with me and we stayed in a rented RV at a campground. Our friends also came just for three days with their girls so everyone had fun. I left to go to the workshop each day from 9 to 5. I did have to drive about 45 minutes to get to the workshop location. I would return to the campground just in time for dinner, smores by the fire, and late night talking. My family did go visit the Orange County Choppers shop and forgot to take their video camera, but I got a t-shirt.

Okay so more about my workshop. I did think it was going to be different and at first I thought I would not take another workshop. I later changed my mind. I have learned a lot from books and once you know the basics nothing beats practice. I learned tips and tricks from the teacher and the students. I asked lots of questions. I learned I need more tools. (Do we ever have enough tools? LOL!) I also gained some confidence about making new things. I think most of all I had a great time working with the other students. They were all different and all amazing in their own way. I loved the location of my workshop. It was very rustic to say the least. I had to drive a 1.5 miles up a dirt/rock road to get to Thunder mountain where the fine metals department was located. We had lunch each day at noon located back down that dirt road in house. Each day it's workers made a great meal. Some of the students offered 10 hours of their time to work in different areas for a discounted workshop. A great non profit organization only alive with the support of it's students and others who purchase crafts and attend their yearly two day craft show. I would definitely take another workshop and if the timing is right and I have the money we will go again to a campsite closer to Peters Valley. I plan on supporting Peter's Valley by donating some creations to their weekly auction held every Sunday. They auction off crafts created by students, assistants, and teachers. I was the high bidder on a beautiful blue bowl with pretty flowers created by Alison the ceramics assistant.

Pleasures of meeting new people

This is a new design that I have added to my store. Let me tell you a story about the pleasures of meeting new people. I met a wonderful women named Linda who lives in Sweden. She ordered a special necklace that she designed based on items in my Etsy store.







She came up with this name necklace pictured with 2-5/8 inch charms, a white pearl, and puffed heart charm. I actually call it my Sweden necklace now. I sell it on my website and in my Etsy store.




Well one might wonder why I would call it my Sweden just because one nice women bought one. Linda writes a blog in Sweden that focuses on scrap booking. It is a very popular site that receives a lot of traffic. She took a photo of her necklace that I made for her and posted it on her blog. I have received a lot of orders from other women for the very same necklace which is why I call it my Sweden necklace. I tried to read her blog, but it is another language. I have asked her and others what it said. She said she was happy with her new name necklace.

Maybe I should call my new design my "Thank you" necklace. I recently mailed out a live, laugh, love necklace to Linda. I told her how much I appreciate her recommending me to all her friends. I have had so many opportunities to meet terrific people from another country. Just recently I have been emailing with a women about some customs she ordered for her and her friend. I asked her what it is like where she lives and she shared some neat things with me. Also, all the ladies that order speak and write English very well. I look forward to meeting more people and making them smile with a custom name necklace. Thank you so much Linda. Read her blog with her new posting about her gift. If you scan down you can see a sentence in English.

Confessions of a Jewely Maker

When I first started making jewelry I rarely had any of my jewelry on. I know terrible. I would often be asked so what do you do? Oh I make jewelry and sell it at craft shows. They would look at me and kind of look for any sign of jewelry on me. So I tried to wear a few pieces. Now I did enjoy seeing my jewelry on others it sparkled and they loved it. I made alot of crystal beaded jewelry and it was not my thing. I also should tell you it was not my thing probably because I am very plain jane and I rarely get all dressed up and jewelry is usually the finshing touch. I did enjoy wearing my beaded anklet but that was seasonal. So why am I telling you all this?


Well I think it officially started when I made these earrings for myself. I loved wearing them, but I realized I needed some other oxidized pieces to go with my new earrings. Kind of like a set, so I aquired a few pieces that were not perfect for sale but just fine for me. Now I get why people want a "set" of jewelry. I also am starting to get why people want different "sets" to match different outifts. Now for me I am very practical and I like to design that way as well. I now also have a set of shiny pieces of silver. I also have a few pieces that are multi colored so they will go with many items.(remember I said I am practical) Okay so it has happened I became a person who does not feel fully put together without a few pieces of jewelry on, even when I am running out to the store. (I even put make-up on) I am becoming high maintenance. LOL! So I went to the movies the other night. I wore the following; necklace, bracelet, earrings, ring, and an anklet. Wow can you believe it? I must say as I was out I thought you know on my other wrist it would look really nice with maybe a few light weight wire bangles maybe with a charm. (so look for them maybe in my store soon)


Note: I acquired my new necklace design because it was not perfect as I originally stamped the "l" as an "i", but it is fine for me. It is two 3/8 sized charms and 1/2 inch small but definitely there to be seen. So I hope you join me on my journey to make more jewelry for me and you.

Sharing my first creation for a man

I have a dear friend who supported me so much when I first was starting out. She hosted one of my first at home jewelry parties, she bought gifts for others from me, and she has been so encouraging to me. She is still a wonderful friend of mine and we get together as couples to play games. Well her husband liks to wear jewlery and has mentioned to me before way in the past about creating jewelry for men. I was doing alot of bead stringing at the time and did not have the vision to create for a man. Besides my husband does not wear jewelry so I just did not have a clue. Well about three months ago I was talking to the husband of my friend about his work. I think he needed some encouraging at the time and I said I am going to make you a man cuff. So I asked him his favorite verse in the bible. Well Mother's day came along and it was so very busy so I had no additional time to create something new. It was driving me crazy, because evertime I saw him I thought of the "mancuff". LOL! Well finally I made the cuff and gave it to him and he loved it. His wife says it his favorite thing. I hope he finds it encouraging. Since then I have made a few men items that I have listed in my Etsy store. (I recently made a cuff for a husband and based on what was stamped inside I think she is pregnant. How exciting that I was a part of that news. Well, maybe.)

My Coffee Cup Spider

Okay, now that I scared you with this horrific photo. Let me tell the story. We just got home late from my sister in law's house from a BBQ. The kids were in bed and my husband comes into our room saying there is a huge spider in the kitchen. I am thinking in my head yeah it is a spider but not huge, but he was very convincing. He said he went to go get a drink of water from the kitchen sink. He looked down and thought I should be screaming but he said it was so big he was in shock and just backed away from the sink. LOL! I love him but he is not the best bug killer. I went out to see this HUGE spider in my sink. OH my goodness. (Side note: kitchen sink was left a mess from making macaroni salad) So we tried to figure out how we were going to kill this massive spider as big as a full size coffee cup. My husband starts to boil water to flush it down the drain, but I just knew with it's size it would hold on for dear life and than crawl out later. So I thought we have to crush it but how it was almost on the edge and a pot is round so what can I use. I do not want to miss and have to chase this or worse miss it and wonder for the rest of my life when we will meet again. The spider was aware we were looking at it, but it stayed still so I thought I will use those steel block I have that I do not use. I thought it was brilliant and it worked. I held a 2.5 by 2.5 steel block over the spider and let it go and it barely fit underneath. So yes, I am a spider killer, but can you blame me.