Wanna win some of my earrings???
Well then head on over to Veranellies, read my feature (you know... if you want), and put your name in the raffle.

And may the odds be ever in your favor. 

Sweet girl & awesome blog. Thank you so much for the feature, dear!

Ode to the starry desert skies.

If you have ever seen the desert skies on a perfectly pitch black night you have seen one of the most incredible skies in the world.
The universe completely dusted in glitter.
Shooting stars and satellites.
The desert sky so revealing.

This ring is an ode to that.
Each tiny star torched and hammered flat- soldered to the saddle.
My makers mark proves it's an original.
A sweet slice of turquoise moon.

Some days I wish for rain. Wish for it to wash something from my soul that I cannot find, that I cannot exorcise on my own. I feel a dragging, a sadness so deep that the hopeless burns through my marrow.

The sun, so optimistic,
casting honey on my shoulders.
My mind thankful, but yearning
empathy from the clouds.

Withered from the light,
Standing raw and revealed.
The mosquito song harrows.

You are but a stranger to me.
You are nothing that helps me to grow.
You are a resist
you are sand paper
Blocking me from my happiness,
from my lifes simplicity.
Causing me to walk with shield and empty sheath
you are invisible...

and I am clean of you
Sun-glazed and powdered
ready to go on.

Today a new story
where you were never written. 

My facebook business page got a facelift yesterday. Nice photo, huh? Haven't seen one of those in a  while around here have you? I know I know... and I feel so bad.

Lets take a gander at a whole bunch of nice pictures shall we? I'm hoping I can earn your love back with these ones.

Is it working at all? Ok... lets keep trying.

So, there you have it. Can we be friends again? I tried really hard for you? :)

This is Morgan. The sister of the boyfriend, and a great sport. We set out yesterday with the jewels and her Nikon, and took some pretty fun photos. I'm still playing around with what kind of lighting I want to use (these will be printed for posters to hang inside on my booth walls) and though I thought I really wanted to go with these vintage-ish looking ones, I may just go with the originals.  We shall see. I need to obsess over it for a little while.

In any case, I hope you enjoyed and if you would like to see the rest of the photos from the shoot, you can check them out here. Also, if you don't "like" my page yet, on facebook, I would greatly appreciate it if you would or even maybe send others who you think may.

You are all so wonderful. Stay wonderful, stay vibrant.

The little leaf has become an obsession. My sister and boyfriend keep calling them whale tales just to grind my gears a little bit. I let them think it works. It makes them feel successful... (that's just the nature of older sisters... and the boy and I just have fun with things like that- he's so insanely supportive that he's allowed to, and he thinks I'm cute, so I get way with it).

Did I mention that they are like male/female versions of one another? Yeah, like twins. We joke because her husband and I are a lot a like too- so her and I say that we picked each other... you know, in the boy form.

My sister and my boyfriend both enjoy relaxing, they take things slow and with thought (they also both have some weird obsession with Jurassic Park and Jurassic-Park-one-liner-battle each other, weird nerds). My sisters husband and I are whirl wind tornadoes with projects and ideas and things swirling around us all the time. I get bored so easily it's almost pathetic... like I'm an ADHD 5 year old.
I read that most artists are that way. That thy require more stimulation. I like to think it's because I have a fancy brain. ...because it doesn't sound bad if you say, "What? I just have a fancy brain." Right? Yes.   ...It's not seeing what's in front of it- it's seeing, twisting, turning, manipulating, and dreaming. Far beyond reality. Scratch out the word crazy. Carry the "a," "c," & "y." Replace some other letters...Fancy. See. It all makes so much sense. Super logic.

Let's work some pictures in here before you realize you're on the crazy train and jump off.

 

Can you tell I'm head over heels for my fossilized sand dollars? Yes, I've admitted to hoarding them in the past, but I'm setting them free now. They're so pretty they need to be shared. Oh, and there's that darned little leaf thing again. 

aaaand again. 

Oh, what the heck... and again...

Oooo, something different. I've been contemplating whether these should be vibrant and fun and full of resin. I can't decide. So, I decided. Both. Problem solved.  (hehe, did you notice I still snuck a leaf into this picture?.. sneaky girl.)

Don't they look fun all stacked up? Especially when the picture is slightly blurry, huh?

Agreed.

Go on and enjoy your Wednesday.  Maybe send out a email of a link... of a girls blog. A girl who would love more readers. A girl who wants to share her passion with others... Sharing is caring, and you do care don't you?

Stay vibrant my loves, you are all so deserving of color in your lives.

My mom does awesome things for me... like collect rocks, twigs, leaves, and other crazy parts of nature for my jewelery needs. Most of the plants in our area are all the same, and we don't get the pretty leaf color changes of fall (I know, that seems unimaginable, doesn't it?) It's painful considering fall is my favorite time of year. The crisp air and the leaves singing of their life in various shades of squash and pumpkin.. sweaters and cozy boots, crackling fires... sigh.

This time, she brought me back a whole bag of river rocks from her trip to Canada and I've just started to make my way through them.

Unfortunately, I still  haven't found the charger for my camera, so you are all the winners of yet another terrible camera phone picture. Yay, congrats!

Waalaa!

...and just like that, there you have it. I'm so giving. Go me.

I really wish I could get a better shot... there's so much more to it than what you see here.

This piece just makes me so happy. The colors, the earthiness, the weight of the stone. It all feels so balanced. I promise I'll share a clear picture when I can.

Happy kind of beginning of your week. Can you believe it's almost October?

hashtag: hands of a hardworking woman.

Sometimes I wonder where I would be if I started over. If the sky fell and there was nothing behind. A blank canvas. A feeling of freedom and strength. The smell of something completely innocent. A world of silence and a view of white and clean.

The world that my heart takes my mind. The day dreams. The feelings of all of nature around me with nothing else but the breathing of the trees and the crackle of the ground as I walk into the unknown. An open space. A field so fresh, full of new life and wildflowers, the sun glimmers over its surface like a blanket of honey.  Glistening gold and bright. A blinding clarity.  A soothing feeling of solitude. A heart bursting with love and gratitude. A place of soft earth to lay in reflection and youth. Something just short of bliss.

 

Simply sweet.

You are powerful. You are strong. You can do anything. People will push you. Stand back up. Stand tall. Stand for everything that you want. Do what you love. Love what you do. To everyone that tries to defeat you, hold onto that rock and turn it into gold.

I met with a friend (who has been in a little bit of a funk lately) of mine last night for dinner. At the end of our meeting, I told her that I had a plan. That plan was that we have to text each other each morning before work, no later than an hour in, and tell each other something positive. Doesn't matter what it is, just has to be something good... Today, my positive was that the mornings are cooling off and it would soon be possible to walk the dogs and ride bikes in the morning. As you may know, Indy, my chorkie, looooves bike rides. He will do anything to go on a bike ride. I taught him this past winter to run next to it, but he's not really the sporty type. I know when he's down there running that he's yearning for the basket or my backpack... packed in tight, relaxed, smelling all the goods and bads and inbetweens. It's one of his favorites, and it's my favorite that it's his favorite.


I've decided I need to start a retail card line of them. They're just a riot together- one big huge sweetheart- one tiny fluffy who-gives-a-crap-about-anyone-but-my-mommy. Photogenic things they are... though it is hard to get Frankie's, I'm a big sad puppy eyes, off when you want her to look happy... how am I gunna use that? Sorry you're so ugly cards? Look how sad this dog is that you're so painful to look at? Look how bad she feels for how fat you are?  ..oh, happy late birthday? Yeah, that'll work.

Oh, look! Shockerrr! Frankie looks like she just got threatened with never getting another cookie ever again! Big news! Ok, I don't know what else to tell you about my day or now or anything of any importance.  However, it is my Friday- which means I'll be in my own studio all day tomorrow! Woohoo!

Happy almost, but not quite, your Friday.

It's very rare, living here in the desert, that you get.. actually, any amount of time.. to listen to the rain fall. Today it has been going for almost an hour and my heart has been swooning. There is almost nothing better, to me, than the sounds of a storm. My sister crafted me a stormy weather necklace back in her days of jewelry class to signify just that.

It's beautiful. The rain... the melody of its splash.. the way it seems to wash away the heat... at least until the next day.

I'm sipping tea, crunching on sliced Persian cucumbers dipped in hot sauce and edemame hummus (trader joes: if you have one, do not wait another minute, it's SO good!), and listening to the water song. Such a wonderful setting for typing these words, I only wish I had my couch and a blanket. Why is it that the rain makes us want to cuddle up, watch movies, and munch? Most of the time, if I haven't resorted to such behavior, I love to sit outside with my little dogs, watching the rain clear the air, listening, sketching.. I wish our patio was screened in... the minute the bugs start seeking shelter the minute I run for a more sheltered shelter. I have to admit.. I'm not keen on them.. the only kind of bug I really like, is a dead one. Bothering me or not. A sighting results in instant heebie jeebies and a shaky, dirty, I-feel-yucky dance that I can't seem to control. Blah. Nature can keep em.

Can you imagine how good a desert plant must feel when it rains? Thirsty and drinking every last drop that it can.. The mountains bellow as all of their shrubs and thistle thrive and green with each beat of a drip, and the next day they glow showing off their miraculous new spectrum of color. I'm sure every cactus grows an inch. The fullness they must feel.

I'm working on a bunch of new things over here... bustling around, trying to get prepared for this show, which I'm not sure I will ever feel ready for... The more options I have, the more I roam the pages of my sketches, the more lost I feel... the more unmotivated... the more random things I get done instead. Though I cannot punish the random. Random has made some of my most wonderful creations. Random is all of your untamed. Random is true creativity pouring out from your fingers reading straight from the beautiful right side of your most sacred vessel. I always keep my random close and allow it to speak every time it so wishes. I cannot bottle, cannot contain that part of the process... it just doesn't seem right to.

As always, for you my sweets, my peach... phone photos! Oh boy! Low quality, minimal pixels, and childlike filters for your everyday viewing pleasure... because you don't get enough of them through your own facebook and instagram and flickr and twitter and blah blah blah app app app insert other social media apps and time filler/waster/sharing devices here.

Soon to be lovely and long, lightweight earrings.

Amazed by this every day. So... yes.

Finally made some bales for these- so happy with the turnout.

You'd never know it'd end up being something so shiny and beautiful.

 There you have it. Fuzzy, poor quality fulfillment. Sigh.

Good luck, Monday has arrived.

Growing up, growing older, growing old. It's such a strange journey. It's almost like it's an illusion when you look a yourself from day to day. Only adding to what you see today to the facade of yesterday... but when you take a picture trip, see yourself only a year ago, or two, or three... it's almost numbing.

It's easy to say, "man, that felt like it was only yesterday," but to see yesterday, it's hard. To see your face, your body, the way you stood and posed and smiled for the flash, and to compare that.. to know that all there is left of that person is that single moment in time, held in a frame, ink to paper, pixel to screen.
Taking for granted all the time we had, the youth to our pulse, the ease of our lives.

Growing old terrifies me. It terrifies me to think that one day I will be my mother, my grandmother, my great grandmother. To think that our lives are always about advancing and growing and becoming something evermore positive each and everyday.. and then we decline, we stop and shift into reverse and suddenly we are once again the children of our pasts- needing help, loosing strength, losing mind and thought and sight. It terrifies me more that that day will come sooner than I can even image. That one day I will be celebrating the birth of my children and the next they will be celebrating the life in which brought them to be, lowering me to earth, peace, returning me to where I first began...and so the cycle will continue. So beautiful, yet so short.

I blame technology. We're so connected, so fast, so knowing of each and every second. We are no longer left to wait.. nothing is what it was and time is a meteorite. Time is a double edged sword, adding such beautiful shimmer to our lives while also scouring off a small layer of our surface each time as it sweeps back past.  Maybe I should start buying depends now... you know, every time they're on sale-- that way I don't have to worry about it later. Or I could have all my real teeth pulled out and replaced so that no ones notices when I start wearing big horse-like dentures that fumble in my mouth as I try to eat my Jello.  How is it so fun to make fun of the crappy stuff that happens as our bodies begin to end? I guess you make fun of what scares you. Then, when it happens, you shit yourself anyways. ...(I had to make some kind of crass joke to make us forget about the deep stuff I said earlier.)

Last week, Phoenix New Times came to my house and did a "personal space, studio interview." I've talked about this already, and whelp, it's here. A whole four pages to me, wee! It's insane to look at my studio now, and think that just 4 years ago, I was soldering on a stool top and that's really all I had... well, a pair of pliers and my torch also. That's it. Now look at it all... and I still feel like I don't have half of the things I need. I think that is one of the things that is so awesome about metalsmithing. Collecting and growing the tools as you collect and grow your skills.  Grow grow grow grow. I'm trying to justify that this goes along with my ramblings of growing and aging. My little business is getting old!

Do you think fish dream?

Read the full article, here.

I hope they have this, 60 years from now, so that I can buy it for my old, wrinkly, liver-spotted companion.

I have a addiction. It's with a blog. The life of a stranger. And though you can be anyone or anything through the internet, and deception can be done as smoothly as pulling your laces into a bow, this one has me captivated.

Today I began to cry. The perfect life of someone who has so many things that I yearn for. As if having their life would cure all my woes and I would feel the freedom and the oneness with life and this planet that I am seeking. Being jealous is not only a waste of time, but it is completely and utterly unattractive... but today I feel it.

I think people must have been happier before these advances in technology. You weren't able to waste an afternoon searching and wandering pages of photos and stories and chapters of lives that you have no connection with. You couldn't see the silent gloats of a stranger so easily posted among pages of coding. You found it yourself. You were unhappy because you had a deep rooted feeling, a need, something pulling you from your heart to your fingertips.. not because you could see various examples of what you're ultimately missing. I don't know that this is true, but it is for me today. It has made me feel a feeling that I haven't in a while. It has made me feel lost. The beauty of the earth and activity singing in these pictures was shattering, bruising, almost hopeless. The desert makes me feel so incredibly limited sometimes, so lost.. a extreme pain for the coast, for activity, for weather, for water and streams and sport. After a paddle boarding trip a few weeks ago, in the Colorado river, I found a new hole in my heart.. one I didn't realize could be so large.

I grew up on the water. On beaches. In canoes. Finshing, tubing, boating, water skiing.... I guess I never realized how connected I really was to it all. How it made me feel. How much I've truly missed it. It's funny how a connection with a sport can trigger such immense emotions, but then again, there has to be a reason why people commit their lives to the ones they love... Why they find it necessary to push the limits. Why they scar their bodies for that feeling. It's another addiction.

It's become a ritual of mine, after I get home from the gym in the morning, to get clean, make a cup of green tea with fresh raspberries, and sip away as I lose myself in the voices of the blogs that I cherish most. (I never realized I was such a reader, but I only ever think books when somebody asks). I love how reading takes you away, it keeps your mind safe from thinking of the stresses you live with on a daily basis, and gives you a solid amount of time to live as another... To escape into the words and the photos, to dance in cognizant dreams built by the simplest string of words.

I sit there on my couch and day dream that I'm in a cabin, on a lake, with only the sounds of the forest and the crackle of a fire to keep me company. Day dreaming relaxes me before work, it gets me through the daily routine at what I'm growing tired of calling, "my real job."

Some days there is an extreme pull at my heart and my mind. A pulling in my soul that makes me feel like I'm being wound in from a string in my chest and I float towards a feeling. A need to be something more, something magnificent. Something like what you see in the movies where a character is doing something great, the sun is glaring some sort of beautiful dotted ray in your eyes, and they're putting their life towards something meaningful. Do you know what I mean? You want to be terrific and empowering, strong and resourceful. You want to heal or mend or just bring a thousand lighted smiles to the faces of those which usually only hold struggle.

Life has so many facets, it's hard to chose where to shine. Which surface to bounce your light off of... where to fall.

I am so thankful for the family that I have, for my health, for the ability to choose and do whatever it is that I really want. I'm thankful for the land I was born to and the opportunity that it offers. I'm thankful for the love this life has shown me and possibilities of its power, but I feel like I need to shine my grateful onto something else..for someone else.
___________________________________________________________________________________
======================================================

When you speak the truth, your words are weightless. (Just a thought. I think all the political mumbo jumbo is making me invest time in discovering the truth about truth.)

Anywaaaaays, my moo business cards showed up yesterday. I love moo. It's such a terrific site, the options are endless, and the quality is the best I've found, hands down. Also, they're fun. Their packaging is so lighthearted and silly. They have fun little directions all over the place, and your business cards show up amazingly packaged in hard cardboard boxes with little file folders for storing and trading. Moo knows what the hell their doing. Moo loves their customers, therefore moo customers love moo too. Moo? Too much moo? I thought so moo.

Take a looksie, these especially craptastic photos are just for you.

These babies are silky and super super thick.

There is one thing I need to mention that I hate. And this is sticky-hand business card collectors. The sticky-handers are the ones at the show who are in what I call birdie mode. Birds love shiny things. They need them... were talking fatal attraction need here. This is how sticky-handers are. They see that cute business card, forget that I, the artist, actually paid for each glimmering, inky, paper stock beauty and they snatch them up, booth by freaking booth. No intentions for use. No intention at all. PLEASE! Please just at least use it to scrape the pigeon crap from your window or some dirt off the floor. They work great to stabilize an unbalanced table on a non-level wood floor. At least give taking my cards some kind of purpose!! ANY!  .... or.... oh, here's an idea, (there's no way to even say this nicely) leave them the eff alone!

.PR S9.

Project Runway Season 9! EEEK! I am so excited for this. For years now I've admired the courage, creativity, and ability of the contestants on project runway (as well as many other design-contest show contestants). I've always had a creative mind, but it isn't one that works that well with constraints or under pressure. Like, not well at all. Constraints, rules, and deadlines = brainmush.
I noticed a trendy game online last year during season 8, which was to watch the show, take the judges rules and requirements and apply those to the medium that you work in. So for example: design a wearable outfit completely out of paper (then I would have to create a piece of jewelry completely out of paper) rocket science!... good thing you're pretty.
So, this will really help me work on and test that brainmush situation I was telling you about. (It's worrying me right now that my spell check isn't putting a red squiggle, auto-correct line under "brainmush"... Strategery! Opp, nope, it caught that one.
Here goes nothing! Bring it on, season 9!