"NO SOUP FOR YOU"...

Not yet, anyway.  Things are simmering nicely.  I have two pieces done that I really LOVE.  Thanks to the generosity of my partner Rochelle , I have plenty more ingredients to play with, so things are moving along.

Not so on the job front.  There are only 8 of us in my little department and we found out last Monday that they are indeed fazing us out.  What I thought was going to be my forever job, isn't.  That, my friends, is the changing face of health care.  So, on the job hunt I go.  It will be okay, though.  I've made up my mind that things are going to be just fine, no matter what happens.  This is not a personal reflection on me or my abilities, it just is.  I caught a re-run of a favorite movie the other day, Serenity, and there is a quote that I have always loved, "I am a leaf on the wind...watch how I soar".  For those of you that know the movie, you know what happens after that line is spoken; just forget that part.  The important thing is that in the face of adversity, you (and your spaceship) must ride the winds of change and be mindful of the of the ups and the downs.  I am choosing to live the ups and endure the downs, without dwelling in the downs.

One of the things that I have going for me is that this has not stifled my creativity.  I still have the overwhelming  urge to root through my stash to find inspiration and then play, play, play.  This is what happened yesterday, just because I was noodling around.

It is a necklace somewhere in the neighborhood of 45-50 inches long with an oversize antiqued bronze lobster clasp and an ordinary pendant that I antiqued using black and verdigris Gilders Paste on.  I then sealed it with Renaissance Wax.  The phone camera doesn't do it justice.  This is one of those pieces that I want to keep for myself, but I won't.  It is great doubled up and the colors are really magnificent and fallish.  I'm very happy with this piece.

So, this coming Saturday, is the first third of the Bead Soup re-veils, and I will be there peeping on what the first group has put together.  That is going to be an all day project.  I am in the second group on August 11 and it is very quickly approaching.  Much work is yet to be done and I'm thinking there might be some earrings in my future....

Stay up, up, up, little leaves, and Happy Creating....

LISA

FINALLY....

Let me start off by saying that I'm sorry to my Bead Soup partner, Rochelle.  I've had her beads for a week now, but you know how life likes to get in the way of the things that you really want to be doing; which is working on my Bead Soup.  So, without further ado here is what Rochelle http://acreativechelle.blogspot.comhttp sent to me:

Here is what so great about these soup ingredients.  I LOVE the color green.  If I had my way, I would and do try, to use it in everything I create.  On the other hand, I have a small prejudice against the color blue.  I did not tell Rochelle this because I didn't want to influence her in her choices.  My soup is going to be great because it is going to be the eternal struggle between Good and Evil for me.  It will be the ultimate challenge.

I adore the focal pendant and bead that she sent, and the copper clasp is right up my alley.  I am also very excited by the dark blue seed beads.  They have a beautiful gold center which is hard to see in the photo.  When I put everything out to photograph it, one thought kept going through my head... Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil.  It's  a concept that is still rolling around in my noggin, I'll have to see where it takes me.

Now, if you've visited her blog you've seen what I sent to her (and if you haven't ... GET OVER THERE...).  Just to recap and let you know where I got my stash, here are Rochelle's ingredients:

The focal pendant is from Golem Design Studio http://golemstudio.com/.  The clasp is a Green Girl clasp and I purchased it and all of the Czech beads at Lima Beads http://www.limabeads.com.  I also got the Rainbow Snakeskin Agate and the peridot pave round there.  I got the green dyed jade and the blue lace agate at Beads & Honey http://www.etsy.com/shop/BeadsAndHoney?ref=shop_sugg, one of my all time favorite places to get gemstones.  The eggplant and olive bead mixes came from Glass Garden Beads http://www.glassgardenbeads.com/.  All of the metal findings came from Yukidesigns http://www.etsy.com/shop/yukidesigns.  I'm ashamed to say I can't remember where I got the green glass beads on the spoon.  I think that's everything.  If I missed something, drop me a comment and I'll try to find out where I got it.

And there you have it.  My ingredients are simmering and I working on adding just the right spices and flavorings.  So, stop back by on August 11 to see what I've cooked up.  Until then....Happy Creating.

Lisa

Practice, Practice, Practice...

So, the Big Brown Truck stopped at the end of my driveway yesterday and delivered into my hot little hands something that I have been wanting for a couple of weeks now.  I finally received my copy of Bohemian Inspired Jewelry by Lorelei Eurto and Erin Siegel (you can order through Amazon).  I love this book.  It has lots of great pictures and easy to follow directions...not that I follow directions all that well, but they are in there and are easy to understand.

The thing that struck me, as it always does when I look at these type of books, is how perfect everything looks.  Beautiful pictures, beautiful jewelry, and I do understand the hard work that goes into producing something like this, but a part of me is always a little intimidated.  There is that voice inside my head that says that I'll never be able to produce something that looks like that.  And then I take a picture of my work, and I think, ah crap, see.  You can't do that. You can't make something that looks that great.  I know that the authors don't intend for their work to do that to their readers.  I also know that this is my own head being a big pain in the a**.

So, the question for all of us who experience that bit**y voice is, what to do about it?  My solution is to practice, practice, practice.  Jewelry is not the first art form that I have worked (played) in.  I've always been one of those crafty type of people.  I've been in art exhibits and sold other forms of art.  However, that voice has ALWAYS been there.  I think it's supposed to be there.  The one thing that I know that quiets it for me is to practice the fundamentals of my craft.  Build a strong base and add to it.

In that vein here is what I did today... you can find the original on page 70.

It doesn't look exactly like the original, but then again, it's not supposed to.  I wouldn't sell this to anyone, but  it was great practice, and it looks enough like the original that I'm satisfied.

I also mentioned a tutorial that I found that I really liked.  Lesley, from the Gossiping Goddess  (http://thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com/), had this great tutorial and contest going on for some stacking bracelets.  I had never seen this technique and really wanted to try it.  So I did.

This was fun.  Supper easy to knock out and another new thing to practice.  Again, I wouldn't sell these, but for my first attempts, they are pretty darn good.

Anywho...I love my book and I will be creating more out of it.  I love that I cleaned up my work area today with the intention of creating something.  I saw something that I wanted to try and I did it.

Happy creating to you all, and remember PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

Lisa  (it's kind of silly to continue on like nobody knows my real name)

And Their Off...

It seems that I have wormed my way into the biggest blog hop around these here parts.  Lori Anderson,  http://www.prettythingsblog.com/, is hosting a super cool blog hop and I have nabbed myself a spot and a partner http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/2012/06/participants-of-6th-bead-soup-blog.html.

My partner for the Bead Soup Blog Party is Rochelle from A Creative Chelle,http://www.acreativechelle.blogspot.com/.  We've exchange a couple of e-mails and she has graciously told me that I can send her anything that my heart desires.  From what I've seen of her creative talents, I think that she will more than handle what I have put in the mail to her this afternoon.  Here's a look-see...

....as if.

I will show you my picks in all their glory when Rochelle receives her package.  Hopefully, later this week if the nice lady at the post office is to be believed.

I have some other things that I have been playing with.  There are some bracelets that I learned how to make from a blog tutorial that I will show and tell you about.  And, the Big Brown Truck of Magic Surprises delivered something to my house today that I plan on playing with tomorrow, so, fingers crossed, more on that tomorrow.  I know, I'm a big ol' tease, but its getting late and my bed it is a calling.

Whimsy