silver

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50th Blog Post Giveaway

Hard to believe I have had 50 blog posts.  When I started it was pretty painful sometimes to come up with something to say, so it would go weeks between posts.  Now I am more comfortable with it and have met a whole community of new friends thru blogging.
I know, you’re thinking…blah, blah, blah….get on with the giveaway :)….but before I do I want to tell you about another blog giveaway.
My friend Heather, at alamodefabric, is having a giveaway as well.  So go check out her blog also.  She is giving away a set of fabric hexagons and a gift certificate to the Sew Deerly Loved etsy store.
Go check out that etsy store as well.  Lots of cool fabrics, Japanese fabrics, MunkiMunki fabrics.
All of these giveaways were inspired by the sewmamasew blog!  You will find lots of other giveaways on that blog also.  And yes I am a day late chiming in but I was waiting for my 50th post!
So here is my giveaway…….
A quilted journal cover for a composition book.  I named this “island birds”
Also thought I’d throw this in as well……
It is a copper and sterling silver pendant that I made…….”let your heart soar”
So to enter the giveaway you have to post a comment here, under this post, not on facebook, and I will announce the winner tomorrow.  
I will use a computerized random generator to choose the winner……so it is all totally random!
Good luck and thanks for reading and following my blog 🙂
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Birthday Celebrations!

I went over to Hope Town, a cay a few miles off the mainland of Abaco, to celebrate my good friend Janie’s birthday.  Her birthday is not until next week, but today was a good day for everyone to get together.
This card above is a funny card she got.  Inside it said “Happy Birthday, your margarita will be ready shortly”!!!
I don’t have to go far to find an animal to drag home……..
This little fresh water turtle wasn’t being cared for so he was delivered to me in a bucket.  Poor thing was so hungry that he ate half of my sandwich!!!…..not quite but he ate ALOT.
Look at the beautiful cake….too pretty to cut!!! Made by my other friend Kent, and boy was it ever YUMMY!!!  Carrot cake with cream cheese icing……mmmmmmmm!
I have gotten some work finished this week…….
This is called “Sea Glass Love”.  It is a mixture of bezeled sea glass, my lampworked pieces, bezeled coral, silver chain and sterling silver wire work.
Those swirled wire links I learned to do from the book “Totally Twisted” by Kerry Bogert.
Anyone that does jewelry needs to check out this book and Kerry’s blog.  Very inspirational work!
Have a great weekend!
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Happy Mother’s Day!!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful mothers out there!!!
My mom told me not to buy her anything for mother’s day, but she knows I don’t listen all that well, or she should know that!!  I got her a gift certificate to one of the local plant stores, and then I made her these……
So I listened halfway………guess I gave gotten better since my teenage years!
She loves to cook, so I thought these potholders would be perfect.  She is also more of a traditional quilter (okay she’s VERY traditional) and she would never make these curvy pieced potholders for herself.  They are made from Bahama Hand Prints fabrics.
As well as trying to finish orders I have been trying to build up some jewelry stock and get some components together for several jewelry swaps I am involved in.  One of them is Bead Soup Party (the button is over to the right of this page).  In this party I send a focal, a special clasp and an assortment of coordinating beads to another jewelry artist, I get the same in return and we both make something from that mix, adding our own special touches.
Here are some of the pieces I am considering for some of my swaps…….
I will of course add some of my flame worked beads to that mix as well, and maybe a copper & silver, riveted pendant…..i don’t know….too many ideas in my head!
The sea glass to the right of the picture, which I have not done anything with yet, I am trying to decide what to do with it.  When i was going thru my sea glass these ended up on the table together and I just loved the combo.  Here is a closer look……
Love these together, but cannot decide how to combine them.
Anyone have any ideas?
One of my other swaps for the summer is a Pincushion Swap and my pincushion was used for the swap tab!! I was honored and so excited!
You can sign up for this swap until the end of May, just click on the link on the right of my blog.  Or just follow the swap and see all the cool pincushions that are created!  It starts in June and runs thru the summer.  As you can see my swap addiction is worse than ever….I need help!
Have a great Mother’s Day!
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in His Grace: Favorites Party

in His Grace: Favorites Party

Go check out this cool blog by a great mosaic artist.  She is having a Favorite Friday post and you can see faves from lots of other bloggers!
Here are a *few* of my favorite things:

My Rescued Turtles.
Some of these guys (and gals) are bought at pet stores as small little creatures, and people don’t realize they can grow to 14 inches long.  So i take them and put them in my ponds.
My dogs and my quilts are top of this list for sure!!!
Trooper wanted to be in the photo shoot also!
Great food with friends and family!
Actually, I love food so much that it is a fave even if I am alone! 🙂
My collection of Blythe Dolls.  So now some of you are pretty surprised!
Agility with my heart dog “Sailor”
Crochet, which at times is not a fave because it is a challenge for me 🙂  but keep on hooking!
How could i forget my cats?!?!! Especially the ones that are really impressed with their picture being taken, like Doodle below!
My garden (minus the million frogs that live in it!!)
And……my new adventures in jewelry creation, silversmithing and flame working!
Hope you enjoyed that!
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I’m Still Here….Somewhere

Been really busy since the last post, so just thought I’d drop a quick line to tell you what is going on.
I am getting ready for a show this weekend, and so I am running around finishing this and that.
I was supposed to take pictures today, since the sun came out, but got busy working and didn’t feel like breaking that cycle.
Above is a peek at one thing I have been working on.  Got lots more to show you….just need to get those pictures taken!!!
When everything is done I will take some more pictures to post.
Back to work for now………..
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Etsy & Swirls!!!! I finally did it!

I finally did it!!!!
Several months ago I created an etsy account, with the intention of opening an etsy store, as another way to market and sell my work.  After opening the account I just kept putting off actually posting goodies to the store and making the store public.
Right now I only have 2 items there….for several reasons……
1. Every picture has to be re-sized and that for some reason is taking me FOREVER!!!
2. I have quite a bit of jewelry to post, which I need to sell, but I want to keep it all……..not sure what to do about that problem.
So stay tuned and keep checking out my etsy store, and I WILL get new stuff in there.
Another accomplishment I made this week was making a swirl on a glass bead!!!
I was over the moon!   Just because I made a few doesn’t mean I am a pro at them now either……gotta find that *perfect* part of the flame for every, single one and sometimes I mess that up.
It’s pieces of jewelry like the above photo that I can’t let go of.
I stamped “Keep Calm” on the front.  There is also a row of silver chain, czech beads, a blue glass bead of mine, a hanging fuchsia crystal and a silver toggle on the rest of the bracelet.
The inside of the bracelet says “and carry on”.
That is one of my favorite sayings, (“keep calm and carry on”) and I have to remind my self of this often…like when I am trying to put delicate swirls on glass beads!
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flower beads

Just thought I do a quick post about my new flower beads.
These are three of the best ones…..some were just complete disasters.
Not easy to find that part of the flame where you can work with the molten glass without everything turning into *mush*.
Also, had an idea for a pendant using my glass beads, discs and a silver pendant that I also made.
Well, that’s all for now……..itching to get back behind that torch!
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Easter Earrings

Happy Easter everyone!!
A few weeks back I ordered some of Jangles new beads called the “Woodland Collection”.
Ever since I got then I have been trying to figure out what to do with them.  They are sooooo amazingly cute that it has to be the perfect project.
So I was looking at the whole set today, trying to figure out what to do and the little lilac birds were just screaming “EASTER” to me, and I paired them with some white and yellow feathered glass beads I had made.
I have more ideas for the rest of the beads just need to wrap my head around the assembly part of it.
Go and check out the Jangles website and Jennifer’s blog.  She is one amazing ceramic and jewelry artist.
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I Did It!!!!

Ever since I have been working on these bangles I have been trying to add little raised designs to them.
I was not going to give up……so I asked a friend’s advice and that didn’t work out exactly, but it lead me to another idea, and I finally got the little doo-dads to stay soldered on!!!
I was over the moon!!!!
“Live Love Laugh”
There is a flower pendant and a coral colored crystal hanging from the side.
And each end has a little scroll design like you see in the above picture.
I wanted to wait ’til I had more inventory to show more jewelry, but I am so excited I got this to work that I couldn’t wait.
It turned out to be a muggy day here, so the pictures aren’t the best, but if you click on them for a larger version they will be clearer.
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Potcake Jewelry

For almost a year now I have been playing around with metal stamping.  I do dog tags for our local humane society, Friends of Abaco Animals.
I have also done necklace charms, but the last few weeks I have been doing some bangles and bracelets, in an effort to build up some inventory.
“Potcake Love”
For those of you that don’t know, “Potcakes” are the local mutt of the Bahamas.  Since I do animal rescue work I have a few of them.
The name came from the cake (the burnt rice) that was on the bottom of the pot when a local dish, peas and rice, was cooked and then thrown out for the dogs to eat…..get it?….POTCAKE!!
They are great dogs and are extremely smart.
The bangle above I made for myself so of course it is my favorite.  It is really difficult to photograph jewelry so I am not sure if you can tell there is a heart charm and a blue crystal hanging from the bangle as well.  If you click on the picture you can see a larger view.
Anyway…back to work to build up that inventory…….