Mom and Me

My wonderful mom just recently found this picture. Don't I look happy? I guess I've loved jewelry all my life! I'm laughing and my little hand is a blur as I reach for Mom's lovely necklace. I must say that I have come to my love of jewelry honestly. My mom has always been a classy dresser and she wears just the right jewelry for each outfit.

Now she wears jewelry that I have made for her. (I just hadn't made any yet in the first picture or I'm sure she would have been wearing it!) The second picture was taken at my son's wedding. Mom is lovingly wearing the jewelry that I made for her for the event. She has always been such an inspiration to me. She is my biggest fan and loves the jewelry I make.

But, she inspires me in so many ways. She loves Jesus with her whole heart and lives each moment for Him. She loves her family and makes sure that we know it. And on top of all that, she keeps herself healthy and beautiful! What more could I ask for in a mom? Nothing...she's the best!

Thanks, Mom, for being you. And thanks for letting me play with your necklace!

Felting Fun

I've just discovered felting! I've seen felted purses and just didn't get it. So I read about it and found it fascinating. So, I had to try it.

This called for a simple project since I am not an accomplished knitter. I found a great book (photo below) in the library that explained the process well and had several simple projects. So, off to Wal-Mart I went for yarn. For felting to work, wool yarn must be used. Well, Wal-Mart was almost completely sold out of wool yarn! This was almost my only choice. Thankfully I like it!

So, I began knitting. I experienced several droppped stitches and had to start over twice. And then, the flap didn't turn out right. I'm still not sure what the directions meant there. But I'm thinking of that mistake as an interesting design element. : )

Felting happens when you wash the knit item in hot water and allow it to agitate. The fibers begin to tangle together. Then you rinse it in ice cold water and the fibers shrink and become very dense. The result is a thicker fuzzy fabric that is intriguing.

Matt usually finds my endeavors interesting. His reaction to my excitement over the felting process was, "Huh." Oh, well, I think it's cool. Have any of you done felting?

More Rings

I've been working on more rings. Still learning the technique. I'm almost ready to make some to sell. They seem to hold up really well and I think they are beautiful!

The blue ring's main stone is Dumortierite like the stones in the bracelet that I featured earlier. The ring is also Swarovski pearls and crystals. And of course Sterling Silver.

The aqua ring is all Swarovski crystals and Sterling Silver. Boy, does it sparkle. And I really like the composition.

Labradorite is the stone in the next ring. Do you see the flash of color, the iridescensce? It's one of my favorite stones. The stone seems to glow. Love it!

Smokey Quartz is the main stone in the last ring. I added a touch of Tigers Eye and Swarovski Pearls and Crystals.

I am so enjoying these rings. They are difficult to photograph. But I found those lovely roses hold them up pretty well!

So, which ring do you like best?

Surprise Flowers

Yesterday the UPS man brought my package. Only it wasn't the package of jewelry making supplies that I expected. Instead it was a box from ProFlowers. It wasn't my birthday or any special day. I had no clue who it could have been from. In fact, my first thought was that it was delivered to the wrong house.

But no, my name was actually on the box! So I opened the package to find 24 beautiful roses. Oh they are lovely!

What was even better was the note. It was from my son, Jonathan. He just wanted to say that he loves me and looks forward to seeing me soon! Isn't that wonderful?!

Oh, the Lord has blessed me in so many ways. And one of them is my son. Thank you, Jonathan, and thank you Lord, for blessing me this way!

Colored Leaves

I love this pattern! And I fell in love with this fabric when I found it. It is a Robert Kaufman fabric. Glorious colored leaves with surprises of blue! And then the brown has gazelles and leopards. How fun is that? And this purse just begged for a lot of bling.

This pattern includes so many nice features. It has a zippered top that opens nice and wide. It also has an inside zippered pocket and a pocket designed for a cell phone. I added two more pockets and a hook for my keys. It's just right for me and I love using it this fall! The pattern is designed by Monica Poole and is her "Sophia" pattern.

Matt took some pictures of me with my fabulous handbag. My friends' sweet baby was with us at the time. She just couldn't resist crawling up to me and touching the bag. We kept putting her close to Matt and he would begin to take the picture again and she'd scoot back up the hill. She's in most of the pictures. Oh, how cute she is. Totally loveable.

I suppose it just won't work for me to carry this during the winter. Oh no... guess I'll have to use some of the gorgeous Christmas fabric out there! LOL.

Blue Jean Bracelet

Aren't these gorgeous stones? I love the blue color...it would look great with jeans, but is so lovely that it can be dressy too. The ovals are Dumortierite. This stone was named for Eugene Dumortier (1803-1873) who was a French paleontologist. It was first found in the mountains of France. Now it is mined in several parts of the world, even Nevada.

I have paired the dumortierite with lustrous blue pearls. The sterling silver beads and toggle complete the bracelet.

Yet another creation that I would love to keep. I make each piece of jewelry to be the quality that I would want and I think, in so doing, I become attached. But, I must admit, I so enjoy seeing others wearing my labors of love!

Mt Airy Festival

What a beautiful day we had on Saturday for displaying at the Mt Airy Festival! Here are photos of our display. My wonderful husband and I had the joy of working together all day. It was great to meet the lovely people of Mt Airy. And we made some sales! Lots of brochures were handed out. All in all it was a successful day.

Special thanks to the great people at Patches Quilting and Sewing shop for allowing us to set up on their front lawn! These are really sweet people and it's a fantastic shop. If you haven't been there before, you should stop by.

If all outdoor festivals had weather this nice, I think we would do a lot of them! But, we still enjoy the home showings the most. If you would like to have a private showing in your home, just let me know!