Hello there!

Where have I been?  Here, I swear it.  But I have been a very naughty blogger.  It isn't that I didn't want to talk to you, I promise.  It is more that I am a wee bit overwhelmed with life in general and it has me blinking sleepily at my screen often these days.  A large part of it is... *looks around anxiously, then at you earnestly*  I am itchy.    I have been itchy for about a year now.  And sometimes it is worse than others... the last couple of weeks it has been a bit much.  I have discovered new allergies *wince* thanks to my wonderful dermatologist.  Hopefully removing these allergens as much as possible from my environment will help my skin calm down :).

I promised you an inspirational lady and I will fulfill that promise, but she's been a bit busy herself the last while.  So for now, I am going to share some of my current favorite things... things I am wistfully sighing over ;)

This is from the wonderful Erin of Tesori Trovati... I love to write, someday I hope to be published!  My wonderfully talented friend Marjorie and I have been writing together for four years now... so this pendant of Erin's just made me gasp with delight:

Click on the pic to go to the listing :)

I also love to dance... though just for fun, I'm not trained or anything lol.  And I love this gorgeous piece by my dear friend Janice over at JLynn Jewels:

Click on the pic to go to the listing

As some of you know, I've become enamored with dolls again... I collected dolls for many years (my first "special" doll was given to me when I was about 8) but stopped in college (lack of space...).  I decided to combine my loves for making jewelry and dolls... and am making jewelry for dolls lol.  I have started making friends with the wonderful Blythe community and found some incredibly gifted people through it.  One of these is the amazing Cindy Sowers, she customizes dolls (new hair, face carving, face ups etc), sews the tiny costumes, and even makes wonderful hats!  I fell in love with this gorgeous dress she made...

Click on the pic to check it out :)

Another shop I just love to stare at is Mab Graves'... it is the most deliciously, eerily, charmingly beautiful shop I've ever been in.  Truly.  I am currently eyeing about twenty things in her shop, bemoaning many that sold already... here is one of her prints I'm fond of:

Click on the pic to check it out :)

The details on everything she does are incredible, she makes the tiniest paintings you can imagine for cameos too, using an itty bitty paintbrush!  

And the last one is... this gorgeous pendant from the sweet and kind Yoli of Yolanda's Clay:

Click on the pic for more information and to check out her amazing shop :)

Ok, dear friends, I have little girls who are late to bed, I will hopefully have my special beautiful soul up next week for you all!  Have a beautiful weekend :)

~Jennifer

What to do with sick littles...

Give them warm chamomile tea with lemon and honey and read them Winnie the Pooh, of course!  Well, for as long as they'll sit still that is.  We went south for Christmas... whenever we travel? We all come home sick.  But it was a wonderful trip, the children had a great time visiting my parents and so did I.  Sometimes I really wish we lived closer, though we're only two hours away... sometimes it feels like we are more like twenty.

So, as I am tending sick little ones, I have not gotten much beading done, but... what I have done I am very proud of :)  I managed to put together one bracelet and a necklace.  I'm going to share the bracelet with you for now.  In my head I am calling it... The Key to Love... though with the new keyword thing in Etsy putting titles on things is tricky.  Regardless... this is all born out of a fantastic tile from JLynn Jewels:

Don't you love it?  ;)  The colors... the texture, the wood burning.. I added plenty of Fallen Angel Brass Co. brass, of course... including this little key that I am totally just swooning over.  I used jasper, sapphire, wood beads, opal, sodalite and delicious navy blue sari silk.  I wanted something to... bring to mind the softness, depth, and peacefulness that can be found in real love.  While making this bracelet I was pondering how there are so many different types of love... so many ways to love... to show love... to feel it.  How it is possible to love everyone in your family deeply, but differently.  Which makes sense, really, because every person is different, so how could we not love them as they need to be loved?  Or at least try.  Coming to the end of this year, this 2011, I am realizing that love is important to me.  Or rather... how much my desire to find a type of love, a way to love, all of the amazing people in my life.. that is important to me.  Love means many things, is many things, but I think... the most wonderful thing about love is its ability to grow.

Now if only we could all find a way to let it grow... hmph, there I go rambling again.  Well, sweet friends, I love all of you, and am so grateful for your kindness, your support.  It is an honour to be part of your lives :)

Love one another... as best you can :)

~Jennifer

Sweet Tarts, Singing, and a Few Favorite Things

I have been playing with more tiles... I love tiles... and I am fortunate to know several amazing ladies who make gorgeous tiles.  The two I'm excited to show you today are from the lovely and wonderful Janice of JLynn Jewels.  Her tiles are just always so warm and inspiring, I love them!  This first is another wrap bracelet, when I saw this cute little tile it just seemed so sweet and reminded me of those little sweet tart hearts I used to eat when I was little, the ones that were... tart.  Not the sugar hearts you get for Valentine's lol.

And how delicious is the silk ribbon?  It has the loveliest shades of purple, blue, mint, and a hint of pink.  Color Kissed Silk makes such gorgeous ribbon!  And then my second piece is another lariat, though a different type.  I saw this Sing tile in Janice's shop and... it's one of those that I had to have.  I love to sing.  I have always loved to sing.  My mother once teased that I could sing before I could speak ;).  I was in choirs all throughout school, even at UO for most of my time there.  Anyway, there I go rambling again!  I love to sing and when I saw the sing tile I had to snag it and play with it!  I have the most lovely vintage brass ring from Fallen Angel Brass Co.  and it just seemed like they belonged together lol.  So here we are... Sing!

I just love the way it turned out!  Click on either of the pics to be taken to the shop listing where there are more pics if you are interested :)

Now, I've decided to start trying to show you a few of my favorite things here and there... why?  Because I love to share ;)  So here is the first for today:

Isn't that the sweetest ring?  It's by the wonderful April of Pieces of April on Etsy.  She's a real sweetheart, just like her amazing mama, Mary, who made these gorgeous earrings:

and does the most beautiful poetry.  You have to check out their shops!  They are the most wonderfully warm, funny, and talented ladies!
And since I said few.. I should add at least one other favorite thing.  This is a bracelet by the fabulous Patty of My Life Under The Bus stardom, if you don't read her blog yet, you so need to start!  Anyway, here's this bracelet that I am totally in love with:

So there you have it...  sweet tarts, singing, and a few favorite things!  Happy Wednesday, everyone!

~Jennifer

Autumn breezes... blow through my mind.

If you are looking for my soup post, it is HERE

I swear they do, really.  I love autumn... it is by far my favorite season.  The leaves are turning now in front of the school down the street... and when I jog in the mornings I get to watch the progression.  First just a hint of color on the edges of the leaves... and day by day it changes... a little at a time.  Rather like some things in life... not everything changes in moments, some things are softer, more gradual.  Rather like a steady rain or the surf caressing the shore, changing the shape of it year after year, little by little...  Yes, that's right, I get all dreamy and musing in the autumn LOL.  So watch out, you never know what is coming next!  ;)

For now though, I thought I'd share some of my latest creations :)  I've been hard at work... and with such lovely materials it has been a true pleasure to work.. then again, when isn't it?  Fallen Angel Brass Co. has become my new favorite place to go for all things metal... there is something so incredibly appealing about their dark brass.  It totally fuels my imagination!  They have these angel wings... if you know them, you know what I speak of lol.  I've wanted to play with them for ages and finally ordered a set... and when they arrived? And I held them in my hands I had a vision... and my hands started working and a few hours later... this was born :)  I named it "Fallen" for it's dark fallen angel appearance... and of course the company who inspired it!  Thank you, Karen and Tina, you ladies rock!  Their wire just makes me breathless with joy :D Without further ado... "Fallen"

Please excuse the middle pic... I need to get myself a proper lady for displaying :)  Anyway... I wire wrapped the lapis and the boro (20 gauge wire from FAB, of course).  Three types of chain.... some swarovski crystals and pearls.  And you have... a lariat *big cheesy grin*  Very proud of myself LOL.  I love this piece!  

Next up features not only FAB... but also the work of an artist whose work I have admired for quite some time now, Janice of JLynn Jewels.  She has become a wonderful friend and I am so grateful to her for her advice and daily inspiration, I am so blessed!  Anyway, point Jennifer, get to the point!  I was sitting here, skimming through Etsy trying to find inspiration.. and saw the most gorgeous tiles she put up in her shop.  I usually hem and haw and wait and wait before buying things, worry over costs... not these!  I snapped them up within seconds of seeing them!  And she sent them out to me quickly too!  Angel that she is, because I was so excited!!  So here it is, my Wings of Autumn necklace featuring one of her perfect tiles!  

Isn't that tile just stunning?  And all of that FAB wire and I made the clasp myself too :)  I am growing very proud of my wire work lol.  Honey jade and cappuccino jasper just seemed to perfectly capture the colors in the tile.  And that boro bead I've had sitting there waiting for the perfect piece for months now!  It all just seemed to fall together perfectly :)  Click on any of the pics to go to my Etsy site to see other pictures of the pieces.  Let me know what you guys think!  I have several new wrap bracelets and some amazingly sparkly and dangle-y earrings coming up and into the shop this week!  Hope you have a wonderful rest of the week, my dears!  

~Jennifer

P.S.  Blogs for the ladies mentioned above!  Click on their highlighted names above for their shops!  Check them out!!
http://fallenangelbrass.blogspot.com/

http://jlynnjewels.blogspot.com/