It's All About L O V E !

It's February, the month of L O V E ! !

Thought I'd share a new jewelry set that I made this past week with beads that I'm in LOVE with.  The combination still makes me happy.

I read a post recently by another jewelry maker who said she only makes jewelry when she's in a good mood so that it will bring happy feelings to the person who wears it.

I can so relate!  I was working on something last night and the wire was frustrating me, so I put it away for the day. 

Anyhooo, this is new and I love it!

Hope you do, too!

Happy February 1st!

Happily,

Laurel 
xoxo

Bead, Read, Eat and Need

I realized this morning that it's been a whole month since I last posted.  Time sure flies when you're having fun, and I have been having way too much fun lately. 

Thought I'd share what's on my table today, and it just so happened to rhyme:  Bead, Read and Eat.  Four words just works better, though, so I added one more since eat doesn't rhyme quite as well with bead and need.

BEAD:  I realized how much I love working with Amethyst, and how quickly it seems to sell.  I have nothing gorgeous in Amethyst in my finished jewelry inventory so the next few days I'll remedy that situation. 

Last night, while watching The Juror I made an Amethyst necklace and bracelet.  I wanted it to be all amethyst, but decided at the last minute to add the lavender freshwater pearls.  I'm still debating what kind of clasp to add.  I SO love the facetted coin shapped beads.

READ:  What I'm reading lately is Torch Fired Enamel Jewelry: A Workshop in Painting With Fire by Barbara Lewis.  I love the look of enamel, and since I don't have a kiln but I do have a torch, this method is one I could easily do.  As soon as I buy some enamels!  I have to admit that I'm not at all into the style of jewelry created in the projects section of this book.  But I have some of my own ideas of what I'd like to enamel and how I want it to look.  C-Coop makes gorgous jewelry components (and the owner lives in Duluth, Minnesota!) and I'd like to try my hand at making similar pieces like the pendant on the left. 

EAT:  Not really a healthy lunch, but I bought some Cheese Curls (or Cheesy Poofs, as Cartman calls them) the other day when I stopped at Cub for my Cappacino.  This is why grocery shopping while hungry is a bad idea.  Oh well, once in a while we have to eat something bad, right?  I love the Cappacino that comes in a red plastic container.  I'd have to go upstairs to read the label so I'll leave it at that.  The French Vanilla flavor is my favorite.  I love it because I can heat some water in the microwave and stir it in.  No fuss, and no cooking, is my motto these days.  Yesterday I had a breakfast bar for lunch.  Yes, I'm lazy.  Not sure when that happened, but I can't deny it.

NEED:  There are so many things I could write about under this heading.  There are so many things I should be doing, like cleaning the house and cooking a decent meal.  But should is not Need, is it?  Lately all I do is what I WANT to do.  Sounds like heaven, right?  Except that I don't think we were built to be so self-indulgent. 

I get nothing done during the day except washing a few loads of laundry.  I do have my sales tax ready to file, and just need to run a few reports to get my business income taxes done.  I spend too much time on the computer.  Everything I need to do relies on using the computer, but when I turn the computer on, it sucks my brains out.  Even the laundry sits in the washer or dryer for hours at a time. 

So what I need to do is write a task list for the week or day and make sure those items get done before I can take any time for what I want to do. 

Of course, I've made this resolution many times before.

My Jewelry Workspace

So I have a great craft room, right? 

Here's my craft room

But where do I make most of my jewelry?

In the family room on the love seat in front of the tv.

This is what my table looks like today.  Full of some of the beads I used in a piece I made last night.  The inspiration for the colors came from the C-Coop Enamel pendant.

Here's the necklace I just made.  I haven't decided if the chain strand will be a separate strand or will be connected to the bead strung strand.  The gold beads in the strung strand are amber, the rest are either glass or freshwater pearls.  The darker beads are glass pearls. 

Tonight's agenda is making matching earrings and a bracelet.

What do you think?

Laurel

Sunset on the Lake

I’m trying a new thing in Windows; It seems I can write to my blog on my computer and somehow it will get uploaded to Blogger. 

So here’s a picture I took as I was driving home the other other afternoon.

This is Bald Eagle Lake in White Bear Lake.

It was a very pretty scene, and I had my camera with me, so I took a pic.

Enjoy!

Inspiration

Vintage Inspired Citrine and Carnelian Nuggets

Citrine and Carnelian are not stones I would normally highlight in my jewelry designs.

Yellow was my favorite color growing up because it was bright and cheerful.  The yellow walls in my teenager bedroom were offset by fairly dark olive green (shag!!) carpet, and my mom made me a quilt with yellow, olive green and orange rectangles.

Forty years later, that would be the LAST combination I would add to my interior design wish list. 

So what intrigued me about these particular stones?

• I LOVE the shapes; rough but with smooth facets, assymetrical and large in size. 
• Rugged and untamed, I knew they would make a statement, and lately I'm into making statement pieces. 
• The splash of orange tickled my fancy. 
• Vintage brass shed some warmth on the icy-looking Citrine
• They stood on their own with no need for crystals, pearls or glass.
• They were different from most everything else I've used in the past.

At the time I bought the Citrine nuggets, I also bought nuggets in Smokey Quartz and very light Amethyst of about the same size.  Normally I would have done something with the Amethyst nuggets first, but I had recently made a necklace with purple, olive green and yellow (Charoite, Swarovski crystals and Pineapple Quartz, a manmade glass), and I felt the pull of yellow like a sunbeam drawing me in with it's warmth.

The Carnelian beads are from a recent trip to Anoka to visit my friend and fellow artisan, Delayne. We stopped at The Garden of Beads on Main Street, where many new treasures decided they had to come home with me.  I love this beadstore; check it out here http://www.thegardenofbeads.com/  

The Carnelian beads are smoother and more polished than the Citrine, and seem to glow from within.  I only bought a few, though, so I had to use them sparingly.

Earthy, rugged and vintage have me in their grip right now, and I'm having fun.  Maybe I'm just designing with fall in mind. 

Now, to play with lemon chrysoprase and red, red coral!

Cheers!

Laurel

Goals and Schedules

After 3 months, I still can't seem to establish a schedule for getting things done at home.

Of course, anyone who worked with me during the past 10 years knows I had trouble following a daily schedule even while employed.  You cannot set a clock by me!  Now that I'm self-employed, why should it be any different?  Except that I would like to feel that sense of accomplishment that comes with completing a task; in not wasting time on things that don't have as much value as other things I should be or want to be doing.  How did I manage to work full time before this?

Setting Specific Goals
It's good to have goals, but not ones that make you feel like you will never check them off the list.  I need to be more specific in setting my goals.  Instead of saying I need to add more jewelry to my web site and Etsy store, I should quantify it.  For example, I need to add 10 new items to each site every week, and I need to design and make 10 new necklaces or bracelets this week, and I need to apply to 2 more arts and craft shows this week.

Prioritizing My Goals
Am I working on the tasks that are the most important tasks for that day?  If my next art show is in 3 weeks, do my customers know about it?  Do I have new items priced and ready to sell?  Do I have business cards and a show schedule ready to hand out?  Does my web site have the show dates and locations listed? 

Setting Obtainable Goals
Are my goals realistic?  Where does laundry fit in?  Making dinner?  Cleaning the house?  Paying bills, going to the post office, library, etc., and all the other things that need to be done in a week now that I'm home?  If I spend the time adding 10 new items to my web site this week, will I have time to make and price 10 new pieces of jewelry for my next art show? 

Scheduling My Tasks
If I know what my goals are and what is most important each week, I should be able to schedule time to work on them.  I should be able to look at my tasks for the week and know that I'm working toward something that I value, that I'm that much closer to realizing my goal, and that I've spent my time wisely. 

What is it they say?  Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration!

I just need to keep on task!  Which isn't always that easy for a non-task oriented person to do....

In fact, posting on my blog wasn't on today's list of things to do!  Hmmm. 

And now the laundry needs folding.  And I'm a little hungry.  Wonder if there's any mail?

Cheers!!

Inspiration

I'm reading the book "Making a Living Without a Job" by Barbara J. Winter.  Talk about the right book at the right time!  My copy was published in 1993 before web sites and blogs, so I googled her and found her web site with all kinds of additional information, resources and inspiring articles and stories.  I highly recommend checking out her website.  There is also an updated version of the book.

I even posted on her blog!  Such a daring move for someone who usually likes to lurk unknown in the background. 

Here's the link to her blog if you're interested:

http://joyfullyjobless.com/blog

And her web site:

http://www.barbarawinter.com/

Enjoy!