SNOW DAY!!!!

Kind of. I woke up this morning to a sifting of snow covering our roof and a smattering falling from the sky. After the past 2 weeks of schizophrenic Virginia weather where we have experienced high 70's this was unexpected. But kinda nice. It's nice to have one last cold snowy day because before you know it we'll be sweating through a sweltering southern July and August!(nice alliteration eh?) I am taking advantage of the chilly weather by staying in my flannel, snowflake printed pj's, enjoying the last fire of the season and of course, making jewelry. I've been a slacker these last few months, churning out some new pieces but not enough for the THREE shows and 3 stores I need to stock in April. I know that may not seem like much, and I have friends that have a billion more stores and show than that, but as I have discussed in prior posts, I don't have people.(yet) Just me. Alas, it's batten down the hatches time, so it will be all jewelry ALL the time for the next 2 weeks. Pictures to come...maybe later today!

Rise and Shine!

My most productive days begin when I jump right out of bed and into work. This morning I was awake, coffee-ed up and watching Gilmore Girl reruns while soldering in my attic studio. I soldered chain and brass nuts for 2 hours and will now begin putting it all together. Some mornings it's hard to peel myself out of bed and tackle jewelry making with the degree of enthusiasm needed to sustain a full day. If I sit down at my computer and start reading pop culture blogs, my friend's blogs and checking email I can easily loose an hour or 2 and then I drift into other non-jewelry making things and just get mired down in the molasses swamp of ADD related activities. I thought I would share a photo from the studio this morning:

You may call this lousy house keeping, I call it respect for the creativity of one of God's little creatures. Honestly? I am afraid of retaliation, I have this image of spider's repelling down from the ceiling yelling,"Kamikaze". The wasps don't fair as well as evidenced by the large white bottle in the left hand corner. As much as I hate the wasp-o-cide that takes place in that attic, and I apologize profusely to the wasps as I spray, it's a very survival of the fittest place up there. If it's stung or be stung. I will be the one doing the stinging. Now I have to go soak up all this caffeine with some breakfast! Have a great day!

It's ON....

I am on fire! I don't know if it's the gorgeous sunny weather, my new haircut or the Diet Coke but I am full of inspiration and on a new creation tear today. Sometimes I just have these days filled with ideas and not enough time to get them all out. A "list" you say? Pffftttttt.....for amateurs (and by amateurs I mean highly organized, successful people:)! Although I do love the bird's nests, I was getting tired of the same old/ same old. Inspired by SL (stephanie lee's new moniker in this blog) I sunk the the tired old nest in resin and funked it up by layering it. One necklace is hand chained labordorite with a little bird charm and the other is hand soldered chain and bezel with a hand made bird's nest sunk in it. The little charm says fly! You can wear them as one necklace or detach and wear them separately! As my new friend Stella would say...WHAT?

And now I have to go solder brass nuts. Pictures coming soon:)

Into each life a little rejection must fall...

It's inevitable. You put together your application filled with pretty pictures, witty words, links to your website and blog, tie it up with a big old sparkly bow and it's not accepted. It's going to happen. It's going to suck. It's going to feel as if you're back on the playground and no one wants you on their team. It's especially going to happen if your a jewelry artist vying for the small amount of open spots when there is so much talent out there. In the interest of honesty, here is what I did when I got mine today:

1. I had a teeny, tiny pity party.

2. Then I reminded myself of the shows that I did get into.

3. I thought about all the new skills I have learned and how excited I am about showing all my new stuff

4. Not to be all Oprah, but I counted my blessings

5. I looked again at the number of vendors that would be in the show (small show) and looked at the show's website to see that they already had a bunch of really amazing jewelry people. You can only have so many in one show before people get irritated that a show is "all jewelry".

6. I went and sat with my husband by our peaceful, little koi pond and felt a thousand times better!

7. I wrote them an email thanking them for their consideration and wishing them a great show and sat back down to make more jewelry.

The show must go on!

Father Knows Best.....

Actual email from my dad who maybe looks at my site once a year:

Why isn't your web site updated? You still have November dates. Do you have a new web site?

Dad

I have taken actions to prevent further parental chastising by updating the first page today....I will be updating throughout the day so please check the site for new pieces that are actually for sale. (the wonder!) Here is the link to the website just in case you wanted to check it out:

http://www.kshonkdesigns17.com/

What I did today:

I took a long walk, ate Sticky Rice, made a couple pairs of earrings, visited with friends surfed blogs and went to the bead store. I went grocery shopping to get stuff for dinner (vegetarian chili dogs and bbq potato chips), put flower arrangements together for nursing homes, straightened my hair, made some necklaces, played with my friend's baby and wrote this post.

What I didn't do:

Update my LEKJ)()(*#%LLM!!!!! website. But there is hope! I am getting the software for my laptop tomorrow and so Thursday commences OPERATION WEBSITE UPDATE!!!! Mmmmm.....although I AM supposed to meet my friend Katie and her new baby and there WAS mention of it being St. Paddy's Day and wouldn't it be unpatriotic if not down right dis-respecting my deceased Irish Grandma if I didn't drink green beer?

Just sayin'.

Things I am doing instead of updating my website....

As my only updating software is on my husband's desktop and every single time I get on it to begin the process of updating my website with new pieces he barges through the door Lenny and Squigy style (Laverne and Shirley....google it kids!) I am TOTALLY procrastinating. Today I have run all the little errands that usually claim my procrastination attentions (bank, groceries, etc) swept the kitchen floor, cruised various gossip sites, (who Taylor Swift is now dating is available on a need to know basis. And I? Need to know!)sent out more show applications and am now updating this blog. I will probably put it off further by actually making jewelry, building my budding relationship with solder and bronze and washing my hair. So now you know why my website has had the same leather bracelet on it for 6 months and to actually go to the shows that are listed you would need the Delorean from Back to the Future. Soon. I promise.

The Necklace of Endless Possibilities!

Another amazing class with Stephanie Lee this weekend. I swear every time I take a class with her I have about 5 new weapons in my jewelry making arsenal. This time around it was the multi-purpose necklace and how to solder without swearing:) She also taught us how to incorporate mica into a pendant which I have always been curious about (who hasn't?:) and I worked with European bronze wire which is just gorgeous. My husband was sweet enough to go with me and hang out in the hotel room all day and then get dressed up and go to a dinner party that night. He is just SO supportive of all that I do. LOVE him!!!! Without further ado....here are the photos of what I made!
Altogether the necklace is a long one....
...and as a chain bracelet with pendant....

...and as an 18 inch necklace and bracelet set. Oh the possibilities!

Pick me! Pick me!

I am deep in new show application mode right now and LOVE the shows that you can apply for online. There are SO many amazing jewelry artists out there that competition is FIERCE and I promise not to cry into my keyboard too much if I don't get it. I am very zen about it all this year and trust that the skilled jurers will pick artists who compliment their audience. I fully intend to blog about my awesome experience at An Artful Journey and my class with Stephanie Lee when I have more time. Until then, here are some pics of what I did with my new plaster class skills:


First I hand solder the bezel, I then pour the plaster and begin the process of figuring out what the heck it's gonna be. I then hand paint the scene and then resin over to make it bump resistant. I am kinda in love with this right now, at least until after this weekend's class with Stephanie Lee in D.C. (um....a bit of a stalker are we?) With all this inspirational learning and show applying....who's gonna update my website for me?!????