Sleeping In

My son, Elijah, is now a teenager and sometimes teenagers can be real stinkers.  But then, I caught him peacefully sleeping this past Saturday and I all I could think about was what a sweet angel he can be...sometimes :)

Bead Style Magazine. September 2012.

Finally, I can share my big news!!!  I was asked to create a necklace and earrings project for the September issue of Bead Style Magazine.  I just got the advance copy yesterday and I am thrilled with the way it turned out.  I even managed to snag a little spot on the cover!  The Bead Style Magazine September 2012 issue will be available in stores on August 4th.

 

News from the Studio

I spent the entire day in the studio this past Saturday.  It was wonderful.  I was able to wrap up a few projects and photograph the week's work.  Its been a while since I have been able to spend so much uninterrupted time working and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Here's what I was up to last week....

I also managed to wrap up the website's move to a new server.  I still have a few tweaks to make over the next month or so, but I love the new layout. Check it out if you get a chance.  I'd love to hear some feedback.

Fun with Photoshop

I'm out of wire and was trying desperately to avoid the mile long To Do list this morning so I thought I would have a little fun with Photoshop.  I took these photos in San Antonio from my hotel room balcony last month.  These photos didn't come out very well for several reasons...the most important one being a fear of heights.  So why not have a little fun with them?  I added some actions and textures from Florabella, played around with the saturation, and added shapes.  They certainly won't win any awards, but I had fun.  Now its time to get back to work...sigh.

Flower Power

The cure for Monday morning blahs?  A pair of royal blue flower loafers...flower power to the rescue!

Instagram Love

I finally made the move from Blackberry to an iPhone and I love it!  I've seen a lot of friends and family using Instagram, so it was one of the first apps I downloaded.  It is so addictive!  Here's a few pics I've snapped over the last couple of days:

My son & his Grandma

 

Pears growing at my parents' house 

 

Jojo sitting at the table for the July 4th BBQ

 

My son driving the tractor at his grandparents' house

 

The sweetest nephew in the whole world!  So proud of his missing tooth...

Hot wheels in the grass...reminded me of when my son was younger

Going Long

I found this article in InStyle magazine's June 2012 issue.  Wow!

 

I'm torn between loving them and knowing that these would quickly become a pain to wear (literally).  They are gorgeous though!  Right now, I happen to be in love with long earrings and have several pairs that I switch between.  My son likes to call them "cheek slappers" and yes, he does insist that I vigorously shake my head back and forth so he can see my earrings smack me in the face.  Here's a pair of cheek slappers I made for myself back in May.

 

I love these earrings and wear them constantly. I think this is the first design I made in which I mixed rose gold with darkly oxidized silver.  They are about 3 1/2 inches long from the tops of the ear wires to the bottoms of the geodes which is a good length for me.  I wanted a lot of movement in these earrings so I added the rough diamonds to dangle from the main wire wraps.

I think I might have to make a pair of the really long danglers soon...just to try them out. The ones in the articles range from 7 1/2 to 10 1/4 inches long.  I'll share some pics here on the blog when I get around to making a pair.