Three Gentlemen, a Silversmith and a 1/2 marathon

It seems that is my life these days!

My world revolves around those boys, the business and training for a half marathon (in no particular order!).

It's good though...I am hitting a new stride with my work and I am really loving that my lungs and legs are getting stronger! I honestly had not run more than a mile, until about a month or so ago, in my WHOLE life. So the fact that I am trying to do this leaves me with such a great sense of joy that I am stepping out of my comfort zone. I feeeel the stretching :) (mental stretching that is)

So here is my new work for the week:

There are a few more things, but all in all there really isn't as big of a shop update like normal. The reason is that I have had a really wonderful week of sales (Etsy AND website!!)....this left me with very little time to create new work because I was so busy filling orders.

I think it was a fairly good balance in the studio though :)

If you haven't noticed I am quite fond of sculptural shapes. I tend to create in those terms....yes, I look to nature for inspiration, but I am also really drawn to forms. I see them in my mind and it sort of moves into different shapes and sizes and then I sketch what I see. That's how I work....most of the time.  Norbert cracks up at me a lot because I tend to stare off into space, designing in my head, and he knows where my mind is.

Now these earrings:

I am excited about them.

I see it becoming a launching pad for future earring designs.

I could not for the life of me decide between the above design or the one below until it hit me to just make them both!!

So voila! I did :)

And finally another stone.....

I don't have very many pieces with stones this week, but this ocean jasper makes up for at least a couple, right?! It is huuuuge.

Okay, off to list. I'll post on Etsy first and then my website. There are a few more than listed here.

It shouldn't be too late of a night......I hope ;)

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Cloudy afternoon.

The clouds have rolled in.

Love these summer rains.....everything is so fresh, idyllic and warm.

This weather makes me feel very introspective and creative

 so I pulled out my new sketchbooks and poured some coffee.

I got these new books from a trade I did with Resolute Twig Books. They are so adorable and

 I am always in need of sketchbooks. I try to have one in my room, studio, living area and car (because I hate writing my ideas on a scrap piece of paper....they tend to get lost that way!) but somehow all of them always end up congregating in my studio ;)

I forgot to mention that I did another trade with the lovely Rosario from Oveja Negra a few months ago for this:

I made her a couple of rings and I got a lovely version of this sweater in a heather gray.

I just LOVE Etsy.....handmade is by far my favorite ;)

.....back to daydreaming.....

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Gardening and other things...

I decided to finally plant a garden this year.....

It took a little arm-twisting on my part to get Norbert to agree to it.

You see, it meant digging out some of this grass:

I LOVE that we have one this year. Usually we're gone a good portion of the summer and since we are here this time around I got stubborn about wanting one :)

It's really little, but I packed in a good amount of herbs. And a few vegetables too. Oh, and can't forget the strawberry plant ;)

Unfortunately my dill has already been attacked by one of the gazillion bunnies that live under our back deck.

I'm going to have to build a little wire fence around them. But for some reason the rabbits haven't touched any of the other plants.....

I can't wait to start cooking with all of this stuff.....I've already dug into my basil plants for some yummy mozzarella, tomato and basil salads.

 I can eat that all summer long :)

off to bed......goodnight!

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Celebrations

These are my birthday flowers :)

You know I like freshly cut flowers in my house! It feels like a different kind of energy floats through here when I have them. I just wish I got them more often ;)

So today, I'm working, but not quite as much as normal (birthday orders;). The day started rather slowly and I spent a good chunk of it just sitting on my front porch sipping coffee, talking to the Mister, while the boys hopped around blowing bubbles.

It was nice :)

Today is going to be mellow....can't get too wild on a Monday ;) 

I did have a super fun birthday celebration, though, on Saturday. My friend (and neighbor) just so happens to have the exact same birthday, so we decided to have a joint b-day bash.

It was fun, fun, fun :)

And on to more important news:

We are having a sale. It's another celebration of sorts.

It's our Etsy anniversary/Grand opening of our web shop sale.

It starts right now and will be going on until June 15th. Our website has the sale prices in place, whereas on Etsy we will be issuing the paypal refund after the purchase has been made.

I put all those details in my newsletter as well, which went out about half an hour ago.

Lots of good stuff going on ;)

I just can't believe it's been one year for Etsy!!

OH! And I'm also having a giveaway over here.

By the way, you really should add that gorgeous blog to your reading list.

 Stock full of inspiration.

Okay off to have lunch.....have a great day :)

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Time...

....it seems to not work with me :)

I'm sorry for the delay in getting my listings up.....and even more for my absence from this blog. I have been working on an order for a new store that will start carrying my work. The owners of Mary Jane's (where I currently have jewelry)  in Estes Park are opening a new store named J.Stevens and they requested more of my pieces to carry there as well. I am definitely pumped about it because they are such adorable boutiques and Estes Park is a big tourist town in the summer months. I unfortunately did not figure my time well, though, because we also had some friends come to stay with us during this time (it's been 3 years since we've seen them!) and it had been mayhem trying to finish the order and wanting to visit, all while our four boys paraded up, down and all around us :)

So here is some of my work.....finally!!

I love the brass cuff above. I used a similar design as my 'latitude' sterling cuff.

And I finally am carrying more of my burst rings again. They were incredibly popular when I had them in my Etsy shop last year. The cognac amber above is a new one though.

The necklace above was a design I came up with several months ago and I finally got around to making it!

I have many, many sheets full of designs that I have yet to get to.....this is a nice problem to have :)

This is my new duality ring....it has a squared shape that I am excited about. First of all, it is a more comfortable fit that round rings, plus I think it is more modern looking.....just a nice change to the usual, you know? :)

Branches and Twigs necklace!!

 I finally got around to this one as well....when I initially designed the earrings of the same name, I knew that I needed to make a pendant as well.

The new 'Lemon Burst' ring. I use a low dome ring band for this new round of 'Burst' rings.

Amber earrings.....

And a gorgeous piece of blue chalcedony.

This was a fun piece to come up with :)

So I'm going to go and list now. I'll list on Etsy first and then the website.

This list is not comprehensive....I have almost double the jewelry than is shown.

Adíos!

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Shop Update and Announcement

This is a sampling of some of the pieces that will be going up in my Etsy shop right after this posting. I've been working hard on many, many things today...

I made the necklace above in the same design as my 'Round and Round' bracelet.

And now for the big news....over the last few months Norbert has been building us a new website. I had the vision of what I wanted, along with the design details, but Norbert has completely built this thing from start to finish. I would just basically say, 'no I want this arrangement of pictures,' or 'I like this kind of color scheme' and so on....Really, 99.9% of this website is his doing. I am very, very happy with this change and more importantly we now have an online shop where we will be selling our work.

I am, HOWEVER, not going to drop or neglect Etsy.

I love that site not only for what it has done for me, but also because it is such a supportive community.

So, I will be putting new work in both shops...equally......eventually. Now in the beginning, though, I will be trying to beef up my online shop a bit more. Both sites will have much of the same 'made to order' items.

The pieces below are in my NEW online shop:

 I am ultra, ultra excited!!

We changed so many things from the original website. It's not in any way the same really.

The front page has rotating images, a wholesale page, a much nicer portfolio page, FAQ, and so on.......

Sorry, I don't want to bore you with details, but you should definitely go take a gander ;)

Okay, I'm off to finish listing the remaining items on Etsy....

goodnight :)

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One year ago.......

 ....this week, I opened my Etsy shop.

 This was my first sale:

I have grown so much in this past year. 

Who knew that embarking on this path would change me in so, so many ways.....where even I am amazed... surprised......I don't know, what other adjective can I use to express this feeling?? 

But, it's huge....whatever it is. 

I love it.

I'm consumed by it.

And I'm flat-out proud of it.

Thank you, thank you , thank you.......

for ALL of your support :)

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Denmark

the.plane.has.landed

....we made it back home a few days ago, but it's taken a few days to re-acclimate ;)

My boys have had at least a gazillion hugs and kisses since we've returned.

So are you ready for a WHOLE LOT MORE pics??

.......here is Denmark:

Indrek's birthday party consisted of: 

1. amazing food....4 courses to be exact!

2. mojitos & wine

3. Fantastic conversation

4. An impromptu juggling fest

5. Sore cheeks - so, so much laughing!!! love this SO much

6. 5 a.m. bedtime - can't tell you the last time that happened!

Now a tour of Copenhagen...

The Queen's palace

A boat ride

The most amazing views!

A very chic and metropolitan city....

This is Tivoli.....an amusement park that led me prancing around snapping roughly 200 hundred pictures of lights, sculptural shapes and architecture. It is seriously a wonderland...

And now.....Hamlet's castle.

I LOVE castles...anything ancient and old, really. This means that you can catch me staring in fascination at cobblestone streets, gargoyle water drips, sculptures......all the details. I notice and absolutely love them. I guess this started when I was very young and read loads of stories that were based in these settings. I don't think I'll ever tire of looking up, down, and all around me, searching out the remnants of history.

I've already said AT LEAST a million times that I love to travel....this equates to a very, very happy me right now. I've had a wonderful fill.......and next? Well according to my husband and Indrek it's Argentina....same time next year ;)

....and as always, an inspired me, means that I've come home with designs dancing in my head :)

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Italy....part II

I finally got another quick moment to post the remaining pictures from Italy. The one above is still in Bellaggio and the pic below is an example of all of the countless vineyards that dot every available inch of ground that can be used! Even in the city, I found vineyards everywhere!

Now THIS is Milan.

I love, love, love history and architecture....my camera was pointed up, quite a bit here!

...And then I took a break ;)

Today, we are heading out to a small fisherman's village in northern Denmark and we'll hopefully take in Hamlet's castle along the way.

I've been calling my boys everyday while we've been gone....it has helped tremendously. I've been able to really enjoy myself, which is a huge relief! I am pretty sure though, that when we travel back on Wednesday I will be super anxious to see them (I'm already starting to feel it)....we get back at midnight and we've already decided that we are waking them up as soon as we get home!!! .......I love those monkeys SO MUCH!

I'll try to post one more time before we leave, but if I am unable, I'll post my Denmark pictures when I get home. I have a thousand or so of those as well ;)

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