A Flower .... For You!!

Two days ago, Shubenacadie Sam saw his shadow, dooming us to another six weeks of winter. Last night it snowed.... a lot!! It has mostly stopped now, and there is a weak amount of sunshine. I know there is little else to be expected in February. I am, after all, in Canada.

I am however, longing for spring. I think over the past couple weeks it has become fairly evident, as I have peppered my blog and etsy shop with jewelry pieces that are pure spring floral decadence.

For something just a little different today though, here is a photo of a real flower. A sturdy, vibrant, heavily scented (you'll have to imagine that part), hyacinth for no other reason than to warm your soul, and to remind us that six weeks is not that long, really, and before we know it spring will be upon us.

Enjoy!!!

Tuck A Flower Behind Your Ear

Ok.... so you have probably gathered by this point that I have a new obsession in these beautiful lucite flowers. So much so that I am ordering more soon.... very soon.

Here is another sweet use for them. I have used them to top wooden hairsticks. Normally, my hair stick toppers are quite long and slightly more flamboyant and eye-catching. I like this new style though. With the stick tucked down into your hair, the flower just peeps coyly out. It reminds me of Drew Barrymore and how utterly cute she looks when she tucks a daisy into her hair.

Favorite Things - Feb 2

Today, my favorite thing is simple. In fact, I don't know how I overlooked it on my original list.

Coffee! I NEED to have a fresh brewed pot waiting for me in the morning as I rub the sleep from my eyes. On a cold afternoon, I can find warmth by wrapping my hands around a mug of oily french pressed coffee. On a damp, cold day, I find nothing more comforting than sitting in a steamy cafe nursing a milky latte or a frothy cappuccino. In the summer, I will sip it over ice.

Ethiopian, Guatemalan, Mexican, Costa Rican, mild, dark, espresso. I have no preference.

It is perfect as an ice-cream flavour, in cake, as beans coated in chocolate.

To sum up, it is the most perfect thing in the world.

A New Take

I have a new take on a String Me Along classic.

Remember these mother of pearl necklaces with stone focal beads:



I have taken the triple strand Mother of Pearl design, but this time I have coupled it with beautifully feminine lucite roses. This is a softer, gentler look, but is equally as striking (in my opinion).



So far, just the maroon one is listed in my etsy shop, but the rest should follow soon.

Praise for String Me Along

In this season of award shows -Grammys, Oscars, Golden Globes - I too have received critical acclaim. I was given very high praise from a very particular and finicky individual. After a thorough appraisal of some of my recent jewelry designs, the verdict was passed:

"Well, you are very silly, but you're really good at making things."

This judgement was passed by my five year old niece. What a charmer.

Etsy-versary

Today is my two year etsy-versary. I have struggled a lot, learned a lot, sold a little, but most importantly, I have met some amazing people.

In March 2007, fellow etsy seller, dandee started a forum thread for Canadian sellers. I think we were all surprised that day after day we continued to meet. Since then we have met online to chat, share, praise, critique, cheerlead, offer guidance or a shoulder to cry on. The group has grown steadily and with each new addition comes the comment, "What a great group of people in here". A truer statement has never been heard.

So today, a shout out to all of the wonderful etsyians who I have met on that thread. I consider them all to be friends, even if I have never seen their faces, and I look forward every morning to meeting them over our virtual coffee.

If you want to meet some of them for yourself, look off to the right, and scroll down to my blog list. That is most of them, right there!

Every Girl Loves Flowers

I recently discovered the beauty of faux flowers. Not silk... LUCITE! Oh so pretty. They make fabulous jewelry.

Look at these simple chrysanthemums turned into feminine rings.


Most of these are on their way to Kitchener, ON to be sold at Rarefunk. One is available right now at my etsy store.

And a larger sakura bloom to make a little bolder statement:


Little lucite bell flowers, once dressed up with peridot green Swarovski crystals and a little sterling silver become sweet, little lily of the valley earrings.



Finally, a very dark and dramatic piece. This is made of one large black rose, and two pale grey chrysanthemums. Pewter coloured pearls add extra romance, and black chain makes for an antiqued look.

How to NOT be Popular With Your Neighbours

So it turns out that if you live a small apartment building, and you feel that not enough of your neighbours are glaring at you and muttering under their breath anytime you walk by, the answer is to purchase a hammer and anvil. There is nothing like the sound of a repetitive "tink, tink, tink" through thin walls to get your morning off to ripping start.

Sorry folks, but when I am consumed by the creative urge, I am willing to risk my meagre popularity. So, this past weekend I went out and bought a ball peen hammer, an anvil, new diamond drill bits, and grinding and polishing bits for the dremel. Lucky, perhaps for the neighbours, my fun metal bits are in transit so I can only make modest amounts of annoying noise.


I have been practicing however using spare metal headpins etc, so the "tink, tink, tink" is occasionally present. I am having a marvelous time watching how metal pins can flatten out into a wobbly-shaped strip, but learning too that to make a smooth plane takes decidedly more finesse. I am learning that a 90 degree angle is not metal's best friend, but that a gentle curve is stronger and perhaps more visually appealing. I am discovering the intricacies of the flat versus the round part of the hammer; seeing the different textures that each side can create, and the destruction (ooops) that each can cause. I have only once, thankfully, felt the gentle bash of hammer against finger, an action that reminded me that I had also purchased a sizable large tweezer assortment.

I have much experimenting to do yet, and hopefully I will have mastered some simple technique before the eviction notice comes. *insert evil laugh* Wait until the tumbler starts running day and night!

Here are some early practice pieces.

Favorite Things - Jan 26

I had such a pleasant feeling last week after I compiled my list of favorite things, that I have decided to make it a weekly exercise. Each Monday I am going to share one thing that makes me feel happy. Let's try starting the weeks off on a positive note for a change. Seems lately that all we ever hear is bad news, so let's try to remember the good and the happy things in our life. And maybe this can be a little reminder that money does not always equate happiness.

So here goes. My favorite thing for this Monday, January 26th is: over sized attractions. Of the many that I have seen and enjoyed are the Trenton, ON Giant Apple; the Sudbury, ON Giant Nickle; the Shediac, NB Giant Lobster, and the Giant Potato of PEI.



Here is my sister, Andrea, caught in the clutches of Shediac's beast, as the Sou'wester clad lobster fisherman, rather than offering assistance, gazes into an Andrea-less future.

I love the kitsch of these mammoth sculptures. I guess it is the way they represent the spirit and culture of a place; the way that generation after generation families have posed with these familiar pieces, and how years later they will evoke warm memories of childhood vacations; the way that they represent a simpler period when road travel was filled with the license plate game and eye-spy, and other pastimes that made you look around and appreciate the scenery, rather than sulking in a corner with an i-pod or engrossed silence as a backseat DVD plays and the ever-changing scenery flashes by unnoticed outside.

My personal dream is to one day step into a cool retro airstream trailer and tour the country from coast to coast to coast, visiting each and every one of them! That would be the trip of a lifetime.

Winter Relief

I just might have a case of the winter doldrums. How about you? I can't really afford to take a vacation from life at the moment, so I indulged last night in a little retail therapy. It helped immensely.

If you need a little winter relief, I am hosting a WINTER RELIEF SPECIAL in my etsy shop.
http://stringmealong.etsy.com/

Shipping is free to anywhere. PLUS, on all orders over $30, I will refund 10%.

My Favorite Things

Naturally, following the Christmas break, I had the popular refrain from "The Sound of Music" in my head for about a month. Today, I decided to compile my own list of some of my favorite things.

1) Seagulls... when they are silent and not pestering you for a bite of your food. The way that when the light is just right, the seagulls soaring in the sky, appear to be the purest white and seem positively illuminated.

2) Down duvets. Piled, and heaped upon the bed, they create a comforting weight and a cozy barrier against a chilly night.

3) The smell of a pine forest after a light rain. The evaporating waters take with them the heady scent of the forest and the air is filled with a perfume so perfect. The ground is softened by the damp, and your tread falls so lightly. If you are crawling from a dampened tent at the end of the rainshower, so much the better.

4) Vintage travel posters, postcards, luggage stickers. I wish that I had been alive in the golden age of travel, when coiffed airline stewardesses presented your meal alongside cloth napkins and real silverware, or when you dressed for dinner in the oceanliner's swaying dining room. When camera-toting tourists were in the minority so the full of experience of place was yours to behold. When even the shortest venture felt like a huge adventure.

5) Marshmallows roasted on a stick over an open fire. I prefer the quick and crisp method where the marshmallow is set alight and quickly extinguished. The burnt and crunchy outer coating slips off to reveal a soft and gooey mass within.

6) A fresh new journal with nary a mark upon it. The promise that awaits you on that first page, and the exciting anxiety you feel as you first touch pen nib to clean paper.

7) The way that my husband's hand is twice the size of mine, and that he is always willing to hold my small cold hand in his big warm one. In that hand is always the combination of warmth and security.

This is merely a short list of my favorite things. I invite you to add a comment sharing yours.

A Hint of Good Things to Come

Look at us, said the violets blooming at her feet, all last winter we slept in the seeming death but at the right time God awakened us, and here we are to comfort you. ~Edward Payson Rod

Though the air remains cold, and the earthy remains icy, the days slowly are stretching longer, and the promise of spring grows stronger. For those of you in the throes of winter's desolation, I bring you a hint of the good things to come: tiny stems unravelling from the frozen earth, exploding into bursts of colour; breezes that, rather than chafe and snatch your breath away, warm and soothe, and bring floating along a summer's worth of winged beings; frozen crevices that with a soft giggle, once again turn into happily babbling steams.

All of these pieces and more can be found in my etsy shop. The link is on the right hand side.

Don't Futz....

... with perfection.

I received a bead order in the mail a few days ago, and snuggled in amongst my treasures were two sets of beads that were sheer perfection in their simplicity. They were simple cylinders of pure colour. One set was a frosty matte cobalt, the other a transparent, lightly AB coated rose. Clearly these are not precision cut beads as there is a simple wave to the cylinder, which lends them a vintage feel, harking from the days when things were not 100% perfect, but had charm because of and in spite of that.

The task that I was confronted with was how to use these elongated beads. It was not long before I decided that there was really little that needed to, nor should be added to, these beads. I layered them therefore between simple metal spacers and left them to swing from an earring hook. If you want to draw attention to a pretty face after all, why not frame it, without overwhelming it, with an equally pretty accessory.

The Force is Strong in This One

I admit it... I'm a plant killer. I water too much or too little. I am never able to determine how much shade is partial shade, and how much sun is partial sun. Really, aren't those the same thing?


I had pretty much given up the idea of houseplants because I felt too guilty bringing them home only to know that they were meeting their eventual doom. But, last week while shopping the after-Christmas clearance sales, I came across a cellophane wrapped vase that had inside it an amaryllis bulb, and a sealed bag of the soil it would need to grow. I normally would have passed that by, mainly because I know that I am cursed with a brown thumb, but also because when it comes to flowers, I prefer immediate satisfaction. Having to wait 6-8 weeks for a flower does not appeal to my impatient side. This time though, things were different.

I stopped short, took a step back, cocked my head, and squinted through the cellophane. Something looked odd. I picked up the package, turned it this way and that, and pulled at the cellophane a little. Was a bulb, outside of its nourishing soil, and tightly sealed in cellophane bubble meant to have green on it? "Its growing? ITS GROWING", I said aloud as people stopped to look curiously at me. Indeed it was. The force was strong in this little bulb. The bulb had a sizeable green shoot extending from it, and it was pressing itself against a cardboard wrap inside the cellophane, pushing itself up and out, free of its bonds.


I hugged the package to my chest and ran to the cash desk. If this bulb was so intent on growing, even I would be unable to extinguish its zest for life. I took it home and gingerly unwrapped it. I opened the bag of soil, moistened as per the directions, all the time wondering "Is that too much moisture, or not enough?". I set the bulb upright (I think) into the soil, and set it on a cabinet near the window so it would capture sunlight, hopefully enough, and nearish to heater so that it would be warm and cozy, but hopefully not too much so.









A week has passed and today the first ruddy red bloom has started to open, exposing the spiky stamens within. Close to its side another bloom is waiting to debut, while below another bud has poked its shy head out.






I am giddy about this little bulb and its will to survive.