People who need people....

I hate going to the post office. There is always a long line of unhappy people and it smells like cigarette smoke and impatience. One grumpy employee is allocated to serve the long line of impatient, cigarette smelling people and it takes FOREVER. (at least it feels that way to me)Recently while complaining to some fellow crafty folks, I was surprised (and freaking jealous) to learn that they had "people" to go to the post office for them. I want "people"! By next year this time I WILL HAVE "people". As God as my witness I will never go to the post office again! (after next year.)

Super Duper Bowl Sunday!!!!

WHoooOOOO HoooooOOOO!!!! Super Bowl Sunday is here! Finally the culmination of a million games boils down to this one glorious day when the true victors will be decided. Go TEAM!!!! Honestly? I have no idea who is playing and have not watched an inch of football this season. I will however be taking part of that time honored American tradition: The Super Bowl Party. I will eat a ton of junk food and drink a few too many light beers and enjoy hanging with good friends and socializing. In the spirit of man versus man locked in a brutal competition to the death (or at least till someone wins the Super Bowl Cup ( Bowl?) I'll leave you with one in a series of necklaces that I have worked on today. I call it "Can't we all just get along".


It'd be funnier if you could actually read the charms but when I try to make it bigger it goes all blurry. It's a vintage military jacket button with hand stamped charms that say peace and love. Funny right? Whatever. I am going to drink light beer!

Dear Hoarders.....

You know those beautiful shabby chic studios with a place for everything and everything in it's place? Where the walls are painted a pleasing shade and tabletops are cleared, just waiting for new trinkets to be created? Mine is not one of them. Which would suck less if I didn't have the fabulous Sherry and John Petersik from Young House Love (this is the link to the blog where they crashed our house!) actually come in and give amazingly clever ideas to de-clutter and re-design the space. (white washed walls are coming any minute guys I swear!) My friend Maryellen's studio is what my studio wants to be when it grows up:









Maryellen's space is clean, inviting, organized and chock full of beautifully created pieces. Now for my space.....

This here is the room where the pool table lives. Memories of raucous pool games long in the past, it's now the land of the misfit pieces where various necklaces and earrings go to die.
Note the orange sticking out by the bottom right hand corner. It's a bulk box of Ramen noodles. Um...doesn't everybody have a bulk box of Ramen in their studio? My campaign to find the pool table a new home where it's owners will actually use it for it's intended purpose and it can be happy is so far unsuccessful. (we can do this the easy way....or the hard way...it's your choice husband:)
Please come along and visit my quaint little space upstairs or as it's called in every other house...the attic:

Ah yes....this is where the magic happens. This is where I go to torch things because everyone knows that you should keep your torch in a room surround by untreated wood. This room is uninsulated as well so there are about 2 months out of the year that it's comfortable to solder. The other months can find me sitting Rapunzel like in my tower either sweating buckets or bundled up in a winter coat shivering. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, I understand how lucky I am to have any space to work and a husband that doesn't complain about all the crap....I mean gorgeous pieces in the making lying around everywhere. I am just hoping that by sharing these photos with you I will somehow shame myself into cleaning, organizing and making a pretty, pretty grown up studio which I can be proud of.

These are the people in my neighborhood....

About once a week I get fed up with the hermit-like existence of working at home with only the latest book from audible.com to keep me company (right now it's Andrew Morton's biography of Angelina Jolie which is disturbingly addictive). When cabin fever becomes unbearable I make the trek to Strawberry Fields for friendship, laughs and caramel macchiatos. At my great friend Deanna's flower and finds shop I have my own little desk where I can sit and create and visit with all the people that come through the store. It often feels like our own little Mr. Roger's world with people ranging from the editor-in-chief of Richmond Magazine to the man that cleans the windows.
Here are some pictures from yesterday:

This is Wendy Umanoff the rock star merchandiser and design stylist that works with Deanna to make the shop look so gorgeous.


This is the owner (and my friend Deanna), artist and floral designer Theresa Wizard and Maggie the mail lady who's golden doodle often has playdates with my favorite golden doodle Marvin!












This is me faking work while Deanna takes a picture! (convincing...no?) I love having this place to go to when I am fed up with the hours of alone time. I may not get as much jewelry making done as I would like (that caramel macchiato isn't going to drink itself!) but it's a great way to connect with friends and feel like I am part of a community!

Going back to where it all began....

When I first began making jewelry I was a flight attendant in a small town in Wyandotte, Michigan in the Detroit suburbs. There was a lot of sitting around and waiting to get assigned a trip as what the airlines call a "reserve" flight attendant and I was bored. I decided I wanted to try my hand at jewelry and as the only place to get supplies was a local Micheal's with a very teeny jewelry making section, I got the basic tools there and then headed downtown to a couple of antique shops armed with my imagination and a little cash. The first thing I noticed were the rosaries. This being a large Catholic community there were a ton and I figured if I said novena before using them it would be ok to use the beautiful chains of beads to begin learning how to make pretty jewelry. Along the way I would pick up rhinestone pins, old watches, military buttons etc. and add them to the jewelry not really knowing what I was going to do with them. Cut to today. Searching for inspiration I looked at the pile of of odds and ends I have been collecting over the years and decided to make some one of a kind, artsy pieces. This is what I ended up with. It was a blast!