A to Z, 2012-- D is for...

Decisions.

We make decisions every day, every single one of us. Chefs, healers, doctors, mothers, engineers, teachers, athletes, movie stars, musicians, cashiers, day laborers, and yes, artists. It doesn't matter if we are rich or poor, happy or sad, strong or weak, we all make decisions every single day.

Morpheus and Neo know where it's at! What'll it be-- the red pill or the blue pill?

Some decisions are small, so small you don't even have to think about it-- for example, what music you will listen to on your commute. Others are made so often that they become part of a routine-- like what you will put in your coffee, or how you will style your hair, or what you do first in the morning after you wake up. Some decisions are new every day, but require some thought-- what to wear, what to cook, what you will do after work is over.

And some decisions we must make are so tremendously huge that they consume your thoughts and your life.


I'm at one of those crucial crossroads right now... and I have been for quite some time now.


When I first got sick, the question was whether I should have surgery or not. I weighed the options, and had the surgery. While it didn't give me any relief from the pain, it gave me something that I didn't have before-- an answer.


When I realized that teaching was out of the question for me, I had to figure out what to do with my life. That took quite a long time, but I eventually realized that I actually could "make it" as an artist. A life-changing decision, most definitely-- and while I question my choice all the time, I absolutely love what I am doing.

See? This might not be the best photo of me, but there's no doubt about it that I am happy to be making jewelry. Notice the earrings hidden by my hair, the bracelet designed by me, and the necklace designed by Hubby. I look like I'm ready to take on anything. Look out world, here I come~!

Yesterday, at the doctor's office, I talked to a new doctor. A specialist in his field, quite literally world-renowned. I now have some major choices to make about my treatment~ the decisions I make will affect my entire life's course, so I will have to think long and hard about my course of action.

Today, my decision was to buy a new earring stand for my jewelry display. I needed something that was more fun, and more functional, than the one that I was previously using. 

Apparently, in my universe, earrings grow on trees from the roots of bracelets... I'm practically a psycho-analysts' dream come true!

I love the tree, but am not so fond of the butterfly on top. I will probably be replacing it with something else, at some point in time.


Tomorrow's biggest decision will hopefully be nothing more than what to eat for lunch, or what components to put together for a necklace that I'm designing. The truly tough decisions will be on my mind for some time to come, because they are not the kind of choices that one makes in an instant. It's not every day that we are faced with the "big ones"-- and thank goodness for that.


See you all tomorrow, for the letter E, and don't forget to sign up for my giveaway, a few posts back. Don't forget that it is the love and support from my family and friends that has made me as strong as I am today-- and I consider all of you my friends <3

Day Twenty-Eight, Moving Along at a Fantastic Rate!

So, I have an exciting bit of news. I'm getting awfully close to 1,000 page views for this blog! While these are mostly repeat views from my faithful viewers, it's a very exciting milestone for me. When I reach 1,000 page views, I'll announce a special giveaway. It should be very soon, at the rate we're going on this blog!

Keeping this blog entry short and sweet. Here's the latest and greatest earrings:

Side By Side By Side, to quote a musical~

I love my trusty old teacup and piano bench...

And a new photographic surface emerges-- the cherry wood silverware box!

 Back to the pearls, I know-- it's just so hard for me to stay away! These ones are two different colors and shapes of freshwater pearls-- golden and dark brown, imperfect and oval and irregularly round. I made these to match a necklace that I designed a while back...

A matching pair of pearls-- shades of brown, just like autumn!

This is one of my favorite sets! My mother-in-law wore it to her church's Lenten Bible Study meeting tonight, and got *MANY* compliments. I have four sets of pearls that are similar in style but different in color, that one of my friends described as a "set for all seasons"-- this includes the green one previously posted, as well as this brown one, and two sets that I haven't shown yet on this blog, one of blues and another of browns and pinks.

Since this set (and the green one) turned out so well, I'll have to do the same for the others another day. See you all tomorrow~!

Day Twenty-Three, A Shopping Spree!!

And by "shopping spree," I mean that we got some new stones-- some stones I've been looking at for quite some time with wistful longing!

I was feeling quite down-in-the-dumps about a few things today, all of them related to one thing~ my health. Things are getting more complicated with my Endometriosis; my "bad days" now outnumber the "good" ones, and I'm spending an increasing amount of time bedridden and nauseous from the pain. Which means I'm missing out on life's events, both big and small.

Hubby knew I was upset about this, and came home with a FABULOUS "care package" for me. Most of it was consumed with great deliciousness; the beads (which are beautiful but not quite edible) will be posted up on the business blog as soon as I'm done over here.

In any case, onto the earrings!

I think this officially counts as a "streak" of pearly posts...

These lovely pearls were designed to match the necklace that was posted on Valentine's Day:

Honestly, while this photo isn't horrible, I'm glad to see that I've improved my photography techniques quite a bit!

The set is made from freshwater pearls; shades of green and gold meet an irregular white oval at the focal point of the necklace. For the earrings, I chose to use only the "accent" pearls, as you can see below:

I'm experimenting with a different background for the earrings-- this one shows up fairly true to color~!

I love these earrings, and I love the set they belong to. However, tomorrow I am going to try my absolute hardest NOT to make another pearl earring set. As much as I love working with pearls, I think three days in a row is quite enough of that, thankyouverymuch.

Until tomorrow, faithful readers~!

Day Twenty, Earrings A-Plenty

So today's earrings are VERY simple designs-- nothing fancy, and not my most intricate work!-- but that was not their primary purpose. Rather, they were created to coordinate with a necklace and bracelet that I made late last night. My first full set!

Giving a big "shout-out" to my friend Megan, who let me borrow this book. Not only is the book itself interesting, it is absolutely PERFECT for jewelry photos! Love ya' Meggie <3

For the set itself, I used small seed beads in three colors-- a green-ish teal, a  faded yellow, and a bright electric yellow-- all three of them translucent, like beach glass. I used bigger seed beads, in a shade of bright green, to vary the texture of the pieces. I used black ceramic beads, smooth and round, to help accent the bright yellow glass beads used as focal beads for the set.

These earrings are ready for their close-up!

I chose not to use the large glass beads for these earrings for a few reasons. I was going to elaborate, but my list got eaten by an angry Blogging Monster who had a bone to pick with me. He's a big bully... he should pick on someone his own size ~!

Although that begs the question of what a Blogging Monster *looks* like, and causes me to wonder just how big they are. Can anyone verify their existence as a species? Or are they in the same category as "Big Foot" and "Sasquatch" and "Nessie"?

... When bloggers start creating their own nemeses, you know that it's way too late to be putting together a post. Looks like it's my bedtime, guys... see you tomorrow!

Day Ten, Let's Do It Again!

Day ten of my personal challenges, and I'm still going strong! Earrings du jour:

This teacup has become my new best friend...

This beautiful pair is a personal favorite of mine~ lapis lazuli centers, flanked by golden freshwater pearls (shaped like doughnuts, yum yum!) and small black onyx beads. They were designed to coordinate with a necklace that I had in mind for a while, and finally finished up today as well.

The lapis lazuli is a little out of focus here, but it gives you an idea of the colors against a darker surface~

Now, I absolutely LOVE this set. I love the way it looks, I love the stones, and I love the colors. But I have to admit that when I saw them on the neck form... no matter how I tried... no matter what angle I took the photo... no matter how I moved the earrings around, and the necklace up or down... it looked like the face of a deranged cookie monster.

"C" is for "color" AND "cookies"!

Fortunately, it does not have this same effect while on a person. I speak from experience on this.

However, I will have to be EXCEPTIONALLY careful when I put them on display these for sale. No need to scare the customers away from the booth...

Day Seven and the "Green Machine" Set!

... Did anyone else find the Top Chef reunion special as amusing as I did? 

Anyway, I can't believe it's been a full week of making earrings! Every day that I do this, it gets easier and easier... today's project matches a necklace,designed a while back, and actually sold at market three weeks ago! It got a lot of attention, and sold the very first day it was on the table, so I made it again-- this time with a pair of earrings to match!

I like to think of this set as "The Green Machine"!

These earrings contain two stones-- bright green agate, marbleized with darker tones of green and shades of brown, and round green jade. Large enough to make a statement, small enough to not make *too* large of a statement. They were made to match this specific necklace, which has a large "yellow" turquoise stone as the center focal. Yellow "turquoise" always intrigues me, since it comes in a wide array of colors, not all of which are actually yellow! Despite being part of a matched set, these earrings also coordinate with other pieces:

If these earrings were students, they would be rated positively for "plays well with others"~!

I like to "test" my earrings out whenever possible, to make sure they stay put. These are the same earrings, with a different necklace from my jewelry collection, out and about in their public debut. Don't they look lovely? I like the earrings, but Hubby would say that he thinks their model is much prettier.

Anyway, these earrings passed muster... they were worn to Hubby's church, for a Lent reflection/bible study/prayer group/dinner party. All in all, a successful evening!

Day Seven-- VICTORY!!!

Day Two of My Challenges~ COMPLETE!

I'm so proud of myself for this pair! I made a completely different pair using those same swirling glass bead "focals". Why don't you take a look for yourself~

Inspired by the swirls in the beads used in yesterday's post, I created curly-q swirls of my own in these earrings! Brass wire was used to create the ear hooks and the mini-rings, and used the glass beads previously mentioned.

Those beads are nothing unique or overly special~ I've had them for years, most likely purchased at some craft store-- probably owned by millions of people-- but I always loved the look of them, and have just been waiting for the right project to come along. Seems as though they were waiting for these earrings!









Oh, and just for good measure? A photograph of the earrings, put together with the necklace that they "belong" to~

This necklace is actually much longer, as seen in yesterday's photo, but I wanted to capture the details on the earrings and in the glass.

Day Two of my challenges? COMPLETE!

Day One of "March Madness" Earring Challenge, and NaBloPoMo~ COMPLETE!

So not only am I doing the whole "earring a day" personal challenge, I've decided to take part in March's NaBloPoMo, also known as National Blog Posting Month. I remember taking part in the original incarnation of this, which only happens only once a year-- "NaNoWriMo" (National Novel Writing Month). I kind of miss the "specialness" that this event used to have as a yearly event, but on the other hand I'm glad that there are opportunities to do this EVERY month now, since this means I can combine both my own personal challenge and the NaBloPoMo challenge. Hooray for me~!

My first pair of the month are simple, but classy, and the first pair made from my new ear wires. Take a look!

I'm also trying out some new photo techniques~

I made them to match a necklace that I made earlier in the week. Here, you can see the combined set:

As an added bonus, you can also see my knitting needles and my stash of leftover bits of yarn!

Not my best photo, but you get the idea. Day One of my personal challenge, as well as Day One of NaBloPoMo complete~ only 30 more to go!

Happy Valentine's Day!

As the title says, it's Valentine's Day... so I'm wishing all y'all a "Happy Sappy Day"! Anyone have exciting plans?

I'm here to post a quick sneak-peek of what's cooking, metaphorically speaking. Thanks to a stroke of genius I am now actually able to connect my sterling silver chain to clasps. The "how" is unimportant, but the resulting effects are quite exciting. This new development means that I can actually *complete* several necklaces that up until now were only halfway done.

I've also been playing with photography, trying to show off my pieces as best I can. And I'm proud to report that I am improving my photography style with every blog post. See?

Notice the sterling silver chain... the lovely round freshwater pearls, cream-colored and two distinct shades of green... and the iridescent, irregular "flat" oval pearl in the center. Not to play favorites with any of my "children", but I truly love this one. It reminds me of a spring garden!

This time, the colors in my photograph actually came out true to form. What a concept! ;)

Now, I know that I keep making promises about what I'm going to post next. I don't forget, I just get a little distracted by pretty things. What can I say? I'm practically half-magpie!

But this new "next post" promise will actually be kept. See, inspired by another blog, I joined a group on Flickr called Bead Table Wednesday. The subject of my photos will change each week, but the idea is to photograph and share my materials with other jewelry artists. I'm so excited to show off my up-and-coming projects!

See you all tomorrow, for Beautifully Whimsical's "Workspace Wednesday" debut~!

Jewelry~ New Beginnings (All Over Again!)

Since my last post was practically a novel, I've decided to keep this one short and sweet... for the sake of my readers' eyes, as well as my poor tired fingers!

Anyhow, I'm still tying up the loose ends on the mittens. I do most of my knitting while watching TV, and I just haven't watched enough of it lately. Plus, the "loose ends" bit is my least favorite part of ANY knitting project. My feeling is, if I wanted to sew, I would pick up the damn sewing machine and do that!

So, a break from my posts about knitting. And onto the jewelry!

These are some of the pieces I've made within the past few weeks. Hubby will be selling them at a Farmers' Market tomorrow. So excited, but so nervous at the same time-- we hope to do well, but you can never quite tell with these things! I'm only posting three pieces tonight, for your viewing pleasure. The rest will just have to wait!

First up, a very simple glass seed-bead creation! I created a warm color pattern, accented with quartz, and with a featured pattern using quartz, red agate, and flower-shaped Swarovski crystals. Perfect for a hot summer day~

... Next up, my "true blue" necklace! Black seed beads along the back of the neck, with silver spacers separating the many segments of this classic style. I started with small beads of black onyx, and moved towards various combinations of black, white, and blue agate, and blue jade. The featured beads are black onyx, cut into beads shaped like large rectangles. Very classy, and such a classic style~

... And onto my third and final piece for the night. Just in time for Valentine's Day, I bring you a necklace with romantic pink and purple pearls! Black seed beads wrap around the neck, and lead into a gently gradated style of black onyx and black agate. Featured in the center are three large beads of black onyx, the ones on the side mimicking the shape of a heart. A sweetheart of a necklace, designed to be worn by someone's sweetheart~

Anyhow, y'all let me know what you think of the jewelry. This is me saying goodnight... I'm signing off the Intarweb, and signing into Dreamland!