Let it go... and breathe.

“If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together... there is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart... I'll always be with you.” 

― A.A. Milne, Christopher Robin to Pooh

I have been a very, very naughty blogger.  I know.  I really have.  Did you ever have a space of time where you just had to keep telling yourself, breathe?  One day at a time.  One step.  One moment.  One breath.  That has been my summer.  My beloved husband has been gone on an internship since the beginning of May and will not return for another week and a half.  I have three small children, my parents are over two hours away, and I have only two close friends in my town.  I grew up a Navy brat, as I've confided before, so I am no stranger to life without Daddy for stretches (even long stretches) of time.  But I have never had to do without my husband, the father of my children, my best friend, the man who tells me when I'm acting silly, the one who holds me when I cry... never for so long, not since we have been married.

What have I learned?  I have learned that I am indeed, as Christopher Robin tells Pooh, stronger than I seem.  I am also braver than I believed.  Whether I am smarter than I think is still up for grabs ;).  I have learned that I can do it on my own, but I am so very grateful that most of the time I do not have to.  I have a new appreciation for what my mother, and all other military wives, went through when I was growing up.  I do not even know how to put into words how incredible their sacrifice is, how much I admire them, how much I appreciate them.  (that goes for single moms and single dads as well, even more so, you are all HEROES).

Where does the odd title of this ramble come from?  My struggle this summer.  I tried the first week or two to continue as I had, making jewelry at night, photographing, listing, updating my store.  But as everything fell upon me, the grocery shopping (with three children ages 6, 4, and 2), the store runs for other necessities, the normal things, the cleaning, the dishes, the playing with the kids, mowing the lawn, weeding my plants, sending packages... on and on.  It started to overwhelm me.  Until I realized something.  This insanity?  It is, praise God, temporary.  So guess what?  I decided to let it go.  To breathe.  Instead of staying up until 2am (before a 5am wake up call by my son) trying to make jewelry after staying up late to sweep and mop... I went to bed at midnight.  I chose to read during some of the time the kids were sleeping, some nights?  I was truly naughty and didn't do my chores before bed either.  I have gotten some pieces done, but only when I was ready to do them.  And honestly, the pieces I have made?  I really love.  I really felt inspired.  I let the blog go too, which I feel a bit guilty about, but I knew, being the wonderful friends you are... that you would understand :).

So, let me share with you some of the pieces I have done.  This first is a favorite, I used all of the silks from my palette for Marsha Neal's silk color challenge:





I paired the silks with some gorgeous Fallen Angel Brass, swarovski crystals, and three gemstones out of my stash.  I love the way it turned out :)

Here are a few others...


Featuring FAB and a gorgeous boro from Amanda at Seashore Glass


More Fallen Angel Brass with beautiful ceramic tiles from Marsha Neal Studio.

Last, but surely not least, a special order I did for an incredibly special and lovely young lady:



Fallen Angel Brass, gorgeous sari silk, a Vintaj blank, czech glass and swarovski crystals :)

The end is in sight, my husband will be home the middle of this month and hopefully all will be back to normal!  ;)  Oh!  And I'm having a sale in my shop for a limited time!  20% off anything in the shop if you use the coupon code:  SUMMER  at checkout (you have to make sure to use the coupon code box in Etsy or the code doesn't work).

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SoulsFireDesigns

I hope you are all having an incredible summer!  Once I hit 100 sales in my shop I will have a fancy giveaway, any ideas for the giveaway?

~Jenn

My Soup Has Arrived! :)

Actually, to be fair, it arrived a week ago or so *hangs head*.  I have only just now found time to attempt write my post.  (vacation, kids... kids post vacation insanity...)  But!  Let us get to the good stuff...  my wonderful partner for this challenge is Cynthia Riggs, if you don't follow her blog, you totally should!  She is the sweetest lady!  She and I have had a great time emailing back and forth learning about each other :)  Cynthia is one of those amazing people who does enameling!  I think enameling is just beautiful, so believe me, I was over the moon when I got her package!

The whole bowl of soup!

Vintaj clasp, Cynthia added the red beads to the toggle bar!

Vintage Czech glass beads (red) and how cute are the green tear drops??

Blue Glass Beads

Enameled Beads and End Caps

Enameled Key Charms and Connectors

Furnace Glass

And the to die for focal!  Isn't it incredible?!

I am so excited and I can't wait for Cynthia to show you what I sent, I (being the space cadet I am lately) forgot to take a picture before I sent it... *facepalm*  

I can't wait to get started with these goodies... now if only the children would cooperate and give me time!  Our blog review is the third one, to give me more time lol, on August 25th!  Here is a link so you can check out the other reveal dates and participants... not to mention what the party is about if you don't know :)

check it out on August 25th

So there you go! There is my soup :)  I need to upload my vacation pics so you guys can see!  I am hoping a few of them may inspire some pieces for the shop.... and I've been working on a piece using my Marsha Neal's Challenge palette...  Here are a few of my latest pieces in general:

Rue's Flowers Wrap Bracelet

Touch the Earth Bracelet

I'm a finalist!!!

I am so so excited!  Marsha's husband Dave was the special guest judge and he chose my palette!  I couldn't believe it!  I still can't quite, but regardless, I am so excited.  And Marsha has put the bundles up on her Flickr and in her shop :)  Ready?  Here it is:

I am so pleased, when I was sorting out the colors from the painting, from my inspiration, I really wanted the gold to shimmer against the darker, cooler blues.  Here is the painting again:

Pandora's Box by John William Waterhouse

See my original post about my palette HERE if you missed it :)  Now that my palette has pulled all gorgeous like (thank you, Marsha :) ) you can purchase it in Marsha's store!  http://cart.marshanealstudio.com/silkbundles/2mmSilkBundles

She will also have them up in her Etsy shop soon :)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/MarshaNealStudio

So what's next?  Quoting the lovely Marsha's blog:

"1. Purchase silk knot bundles for projects, giveaways, promotions, etc.
2. Create and photograph projects using these silk palettes (round 1 and 2 all apply).
3. Blog or share those photographs about the projects and your inspirations.
4. I will be hosting some design challenges/ blog hops around things you make with these silks so you can show off your stuff!"

Read the whole blog post (with all the other finalists and their amazing palettes)  here:

http://www.marshanealstudio.blogspot.com/2012/06/finalists-palettes-and-giveaway-winners.html

And if you'd like to see how the challenge works and what the other finalists and I are working for, you can learn more HERE.  Thank you so much for all of you that voted for my palette! 

I have been enjoying more family time the last couple of weeks, spending time with my little ones, playing in the backyard... enjoying the (sometimes) warmer weather :).  We are going on a little vacation starting this Thursday to spend the 4th with family down in Brookings.  Since I won't be here over the 4th itself, I'm having a sale from today through Wednesday night in celebration instead!  20% off anything in my shop using the coupon code:  4THOFJULY  .   I will get everything packed up and shipped out Thursday morning on my way south!  I will have a few items going up hopefully today, if I can get the littles to give me some breathing room ;).  

Hope you all have a fantastic week and (in case I don't manage to get back on here before) a wonderful Independence Day!  

~Jennifer

Marsha's having another challenge...

And I'm in!  I was so bummed I missed out last time, so the second I saw this up I started obsessing over palettes :D.  My inspiration for my palette was a bracelet I made a while back... which was inspired by a painting and a tale...



Pandora's box...  you can find the bracelet HERE.   The painting is by John William Waterhouse (1896).

                                                            (Image borrowed from HERE, thank you!)

I took some liberties with the original palette and focused on shades of blue and copper, with bursts of rich gold.  I am really very pleased with how my palette turned out and am of course... calling it Pandora's Box.

In case any of you don't know the tale of Pandora, here is Wiki's short version:

"In classical Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman on Earth. Zeus ordered Hephaestus, the God of craftsmanship, to create her, so he did—using water and Earth.^[4] The gods endowed her with many gifts: Athena clothed her, Aphrodite gave her beauty, andHermes speech.^[5]

When Prometheus stole fire from heaven, Zeus took vengeance by presenting Pandora to Epimetheus, Prometheus' brother. With her, Pandora was given a beautiful container which she was not to open under any circumstance. Impelled by her curiosity given to her by the gods, Pandora opened it, and all evil contained therein escaped and spread over the earth. She hastened to close the container, but the whole contents had escaped, except for one thing that lay at the bottom, which was the angel of Hope named Astrea. Pandora was deeply saddened by what she had done, and was afraid that she would have to face Zeus' wrath, since she had failed her duty; however, Zeus did not punish Pandora, because he knew this would happen."  Wiki article HERE

I hope you all like my palette :)  Interested in joining in the fun?  Here is the link to Marsha's post!  

http://www.marshanealstudio.blogspot.com/2012/06/june-13-link-up-your-palette-post.html

~Jenn

Challenge of Literature Blog Hop: Girl On Fire

Hello sweet friends and lovely blog hoppers!  I am so excited about this challenge!  Can you tell?  Do the exclamation points tip you off?  I have always loved books, always!  My mother read to me as a very little one and by the time I was four I was starting to read on my own.  I grew up a Navy brat and we moved around a wee bit... books were one of the great constants in my life (some of my dearest friends, in fact).  A rather awkward and odd child, I fell in love with Shakespeare at the age of seven.  I remember wandering around the Kitsap County Library, bored with they children's books and finding a slender book (the Yale Shakespeare, you know the ones, blue cloth covers?  Still my favorite!) with the gold lettering on the spine that said "Romeo and Juliet"... even I had heard of the star-crossed lovers.  Curiosity piqued I couldn't help but pull the volume from the shelves and sat down in the rather dark aisle and began to read.  At such a young age I didn't understand all I read, of course, but the language captured me.  It was magical to my young mind and from then on I thirsted even more for words, words that painted pictures, words that evoked emotions, words that inspired my imagination to fly.

Since that time I have read so many books, so many wonderful, magical, inspiring books.  I have read books from a wide variety of genres, time periods, authors... and I have very rarely found a book I truly didn't like.  I loved reading so much that I chose English as my major at the UO and loved it.  Loved!  I have many favorites... Beowulf (which I own in Old English), Emma by Jane Austen, Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare (though I love all Shakespeare, it is one of my oddball favorites), The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas, almost anything by Mercedes Lackey, Emily Dickinson's poetry, John Donne's poetry... plenty of classics and modern literature alike.  I won't deny I loved every single Harry Potter novel, I have a huge weak spot for Patricia C. Wrede's Dealing with Dragons series, and I did indeed enjoy Twilight... OH!  and Outlander by Diana Gabaldon!  Jamie makes me swoon-y.  ;).  There are many others I can't think of at the moment, but they are there... hundreds of them lol.

I know, I know, you have other blogs to hop!  Cut to the chase woman!  Ok!!!  Of late I have caught the Hunger Games bug... a good friend of mine recommended it and I couldn't put it down.  What drew me to the novels was Katniss, the main character herself, the three novels can be seen in so many ways... but it was the parallel between the greater plot and Katniss inner struggles that truly captured me.  I don't want to spoil anything for any of you who have not read it and I am worried if I try too hard I will blab on and on... so I am going to cheat a wee bit and borrow from Wikipedia's article on the novel:

"The Hunger Games is a young adult novel written by American television writer and novelist Suzanne Collins. It was first published on September 14, 2008, by Scholastic, in hardcover.^[1]It is written in the voice of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world in the country of Panem where the countries of North America once existed. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, holds hegemony over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games are an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12 to 18 from each of the 12 districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle until only one person is left." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games)


One of the themes throughout the entire series is fire.  Katniss' district is in charge of coal mining, when she ends up a participant in the Hunger Games her stylist, Cinna, and his female counterpart, Portia, choose fiery costumes to represent District 12.  From there all of Katniss' "promo" (remember this is a televised event, scary reality tv) outfits involve the look of fire in its many forms... earning her the nickname "the girl on fire".  To me the fire theme is so perfect for that parallel between Katniss and her world... she is like a phoenix... going from ashes to coal to fire and back again as she grows and changes... and the journey is never easy for her, her world is a very harsh one.  Enough of my rambling, here is my piece inspired by the "Girl on Fire"












Featuring Fallen Angel Brass Co. brass chain, wire, and bead caps, a stunning boro by Amanda Cargill Austin of Sea Shore Glass, garnet chips from Legendary Beads, faceted onyx rounds, and a brass stamping blank from B'Sue Boutique.

I hope you enjoyed my piece :)  Now, off to see the others!  I can't wait!

Erin Prais-Hintz

Rebecca Anderson

Rose Binoya

Lori Bowring Michaud

Shannon Chomanszuk

Marlene Cupo

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Kim Dworak

Beth Emery

Therese Frank

Amy Freeland

K Hutchinson

Jennifer Justman

Susan Kennedy

Linda Landig

Lisa Lodge

Lisa Lowe

Kirsi Luostarinen

Beth McCord

Melissa Meman

Sharon Misuraco

Tracey Nanstad

Melinda Orr

Kashmira Patel

Alice Peterson

Sally Russick

Niky Sayers

Pam Sears

Amy Severino

Tracy Stillman

Emma Todd

Melissa Trudinger

Lesley Watt

Shai Williams

<div align="center"><a href="http://treasures-found.blogspot.com" title="Challenge of Literature 2012"><img src="http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg508/tesoritrovati/booksbuttonv2.jpg" alt="Challenge of Literature 2012" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Thank you all!

~Jenn

The Giveaway Winners Are...

I will keep this entry short and sweet :).  I am sorry it did not go up yesterday, but my computer is still being cranky lol.

Here we go!  The first winner will receive this bracelet:



And the winner is...

Erin Fickert-Rowland!

The second winner will be receiving this lovely set of bracelets:



And the winner is...

ZombiesAteYou!!

If both of you would please contact me with your addresses I will ship these off to you!   Thank you everyone who commented, it was such a pleasure to read about why you love May!!

Please come back again tomorrow to see my post for the lovely Erin Prais-Hintz's Challenge of Literature Blog Hop!!

~Jenn

The War Against My Machine...

Every time I think I am finally going to be able to stay on the blogging bandwagon something happens... illness, family crisis, or in this case... the war between my netbook and I.  My netbook's name is Morrigan (yes, that Morrigan... also called Morgan le Fay), apparently naming her that over two years ago was a mistake because boy does she have a bad attitude ;).  The good news is I had a friend help me out and she seems to be mollified for the moment, though I believe a new computer is inevitable *sigh*.

Anyway!  I had planned on writing out a happy little post with my first of two (or maybe even three) giveaways celebrating my one year shop anniversary over a week ago!  I am so behind thanks to Morrigan *grumbles*.  So, on to the giveaway!  I will be giving away this lovely wrap bracelet to one lucky winner:



I will also be giving away this set of four bracelets (seed bead fun :) ) to a second lucky winner:



All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment and tell me... your favorite thing about May :) (oh and PLEASE leave my your email address unless you use blogger and have email turned on already, otherwise I can't contact you to tell you you have won! :) ).  For a second/third/etc entry share this giveaway on FB, Twitter, or your blog (make sure to leave separate comments for each entry leaving me a link :) ).  I will draw the two winners next Tuesday (May 29th)!  I am also having a sale for my FB fans, so go check out my FB page for the coupon code :).

And on to other news...  here are some of the things I've been working on :)







All three items are currently for sale in my shop :)  Soul's Fire Designs on Etsy.

Thank you all of you for dropping by and good luck in the drawing!

~Jennifer