Jewelry work in September!

 Rocking my Jewelry studio this week. I had a large list and did not finish it in the limited time I had given myself, but it was better than nothing. I would drop my daughter off at school down the street, have some coffee with my dad, go for a run and then have 2-3 hours left to get some work done before my daughter got out at 12. I was really enjoying it though. I really miss making jewelry sometimes. It did not feel at all like work, except when my fingers hurt.

These are the links being made for my silver, textured link bracelets. By the end of this process I feel very intimate with every individual link. I bend the wire into loop, solder, stretch to be oval, hammer flat, hammer a pattern on both sides, chemically color and them tumble to polish. So much work goes into these. I love mine, I wear it every day and even shower in it. The one I am wearing is over 5 years old and showing very little wear.

 These are the beginnings of my square wire rings. They seem to be a favorite at the Art Hus. I get a lot of requests, but these suckers are so hard to size. There is a mathematical formula, but it does not account for the hammering and texturing, so they are very hard to make for custom orders.

These will end up being my rustic heart pendants, similar to the one I wear. I did not finish them, so I do not know when I will get back to them. I sure hope to get these 3 done before the Queen of Arts show at the Elverhoj Museum, but no guarantees.

 More work on the square wire rings. Here they are getting soldered and then reshaped and later textured on the mandrel. I need to prepare some of them for a bezel, antique them and polish before they are ready.

These are some of the stamps that I use to texture my work. These are my favorites. I actually made these myself when I was in college from cement nails and iron horseshoe nails. I hope to make more some day, but these have really held up through the years. I am very proud of them.

This was August

 August was quite busy. It was a countdown until my daughter's first day of Kindergarten,  trip to the Sketchbook Project, some round robin journal fun, a little bit of work, a sketch day with my daughter and dad, some pen pal letters sent and my first "real" official run.

 This is the mobile library of the Sketchbook Project. My mom has a book in hear. I had no idea it was coming to Santa Barbara for 2 days! I got off work early and gave myself an hour to indulge in all the awesome books. I checked out around 10 journals and enjoyed most of them a lot. Lots of fun and inspiration. I bought a blank one to take home, fill up and send out. I am excited at the thought of checking it out next year. I better get to work on that soon, It is due in January.

 Here is my first entry in someone else's journal. I had some fun with this one. I like the way it came out. I am very excited to see this round robin every month and to see what all the other artists are doing. The best part will be getting my 2 journals I made back and seeing all the awesome artwork I get to keep!!

My daughter is growing so fast. It was nice to have her at our sketch day this month. She did one sketch in my journal and then collected a bunch of tiny white flowers to decorate my book.

 Finally made a new stamp for my new tags to replace my too large, old ones at the Art Hus. Now I just need to find time to get in there and retag all my stuff :P

 I love it when I find time to send out mail to my 5 pen pals! I have always loved to write letters and then have a bunch of fun making them a bit artsy. I had hoped to get these out every month, but I am not quite hitting that. I think I am at every month and a half or two.

My big personal news is that I signed up and finished a "5K" race. It was Run or Dye. My whole work was going to come out, but it did not really work out like that. I had been trying to hit 3 miles for around a year and was so stoaked to think I was going to finally do it! I am very proud that I finished, but my running app said it was only 2.75 miles. It was fun to be bombarded with color and have my daughter there to cheer me on. I am sure this will not be my last, but don't expect me to be running a 10k or marathon any time soon :)

Getting Back to Some Work

 Special order for some birds. I just need to add some finishing touches and a glaze and they are good to go.

 Looks like I need to get to the Art Clinic and make some more birds, I only have one more left for the Art Hus. Next I will be making some funky photo albums. I got the repurposed Ritz boxes all ready to cut so stay tuned for progress photos.

 I have been playing around lately in that Mermaid Circus internet class put on by Teesha and Jane. It has been very fun and inspiring. There is a round robin group that has spun off and this is one of the journals in process that I will be trading around. I cannot wait to see what comes in the mail. It has kept my small amount of free time a bit too occupied lately. It has been a lot of fun and refreshing, but I need to get some stuff made for the Art Hus that has been waiting. I have a couple weeks of time coming up in September that I will be devoting to jewelry production. More bracelets , rings and red hearts.

I guess I really Should Say I....

 That I am on vacation half of March and May as far as art production is concerned. It is my baby's Birthday and our annual trip to Disneyland. I finally got a few birds made (4 to go) and new earrings for the Art Hus.

Mother's Day Tea at my daughter's pre-school was so sweet (this is a picture she made of me). Now that it is summer, her art has really taken off. I am so proud, yet try to not pressure her. I love everything she does. She is so inspiring the way she decides to approach stuff. I hope she never gets too discouraged and someday we will go on sketch trips together. She also had her first real performance with Los Olivos Dance Studio. It was so darn cute, I teared up. And the trip to Disney was so great! Her Dad really treats her with a Bibiddy Bobbity Boutique makeover. She was Merida this year. Here she is driving the autotopia car for her first time. She looks likes she is 17. The crazy princess hair helps with the aerodynamics.

And finally...some work ;)  I r-arranged my case a bit and added some new stuff, so go take a look! I have been doing a lot of fun work in my Mermaid class journal and I am trying to figure out how to make a video of the book. I am fine with the filming, I just no nothing about editing. If it works, I will film some of my other fun journals. I am still trying to find time to make my newest one. I am told my rings are selling out, so I need to find time to work on those. Wish me luck....I am hoping to ramp up production again soon.

Another Month Gone...Bye April

Two paper mache birds so close to done. I really love making these. It is fun to pick a bird and tweak it a bit.

My sister gave my an online Mermaid Circus class with Teesha and Jane for my birthday and I am having a lot of fun with it.

I love the bits of color on the paper that is left over.

Here is my book coming together. I have a rough idea what I want to do, but we will see.

This one is based on my daughter. I drew it as she slept.

This one was inspired by Teesha's part of the class in collage. Not my comfort zone, but I am happy with it.

Sketch Day at Classic Organic Farms was a bunch of fun. Even my daughter got into it. Those strawberries she and grandpa picked were so yum!

Had a wonderful fancy Birthday dinner with My daughter and her dad at Root 246. The drinks were a highlight. My daughter enjoyed the couch they sat us at.

The big news is that I joined the Art Hus this month for real. I am now an active member and will be contributing on a regular basis! Very exciting! I have already added some more jewelry, paper clay tags, and stacking rings. I have a bunch of little projects in the works that will be making their way there soon so stay tuned!

Busy March

Hope everyone enjoyed their St Patrick's Day! I had fun making some simple felt pins for some friends. I also had a wonderful outdoor dinner at my mom's with corned beef and yummy potatoes.

A good friend of mine had a Birthday and I am pretty sure that composition books are her favorite journals, so I made her a cover for one. This was another one of my totally made up-with no plan patterns ;) I think it came out alright. It passed the fits-on-a-comp-book test.

Here was the finished cards I mailed out. Glycine envelopes are fun.

Tried to go on a hike on Figueroa Mountain with my daughter. We did not get far, but I think she had fun. The flowers were very beautiful. I know there was a bunch more just ahead, but my soon-to-be-5 year old was ready to go.

 My mom and me had some fun making large rainbow puff pom poms out of tissue paper. They were a great alternative to balloons. My daughter loved them.

 Solvang's flowers are doing their thing. It is hard not to stop and get some photos.

Here was the Birthday crown this year. My camera failed to capture any of the photos I took with her in it....so odd and sad. I also made her a little shadow box with a princess and a unicorn. I hope she likes it.

Hope you all had a fun Easter! Spring is a wonderful time. I am overflowing with inspiration yet I am too busy to express myself. I feel a new painting wanting out.