Eureka!

Hey everybody,

Thank you all for your get well wishes.  It worked!

Did you all notice anything new?  C'mon, take a minute and look around..........look some more.........
Yes! There's things on the sidebars!  Woohoo!  I actually have an etsy mini and all of the magazines I've been published in on the sidebars, there where they belong!   For those of you who have been with me from the beginning, you know what a huge accomplishment this is. You know, cuz of the tech-challenged thing I have going on.  Of course, they still look funky, cuz I'm too afraid to actually change the html code and center them, so I can get rid of the weird white shadow thing.   I'm saving that for another day.  You never know what surprises I might have in store for you, eh? 

I tweaked the commenting settings.  If you were having trouble commenting before, please try again.  Hopefully it will work for you now. 

Btw, I really did intend to respond to your comments as they came in.  Since time got away from me, your responses are below.  I'm really enjoying hearing what you all have to say, even if you don't actually know that until a week later!  :)

I've been working steadily behind the scenes here. Take a peek at what's been going on at the workbench, if you'd like.  Here's the status of the long awaited dioramas.  No, you aren't imagining things.  They do take alot of time.  But I think they're worth it. 

Garden of Love

This idyllic little scene is so peaceful.  Love it.  The front is darkly mysterious, layered with a map, transparency and text under a magnifying lens.    All ready to list.

Sometimes you have fun at the beach and sometimes you don't........looks like the odds are 3 out of 4 have a blast!

Did you notice the warning printed on the paper that the dioramas are sitting on?  You'll be thrilled to know I purchased it at a store where everything has been donated for reuse in art projects and to keep it out of the landfills.  Comforting, eh?

This one is looking sufficiently old now, don't you think?  It's all ready, finally, for me to put it together.  Stay tuned to find out what's inside.  Here's a hint.... it's not idyllic.  (insert evil laugh soundtrack here)

I also made some resin components.  The branches will be great neckpieces, don't you think?

They're all frosty clear and yummy.  The bezels will become earrings most likely.  I love using resin.  This week I listed a bracelet which has a fossil ammonite cast in resin.  The ammonite wasn't from this batch, I made it a few months ago.  Fascinating tidbit that you needed to know, eh?  Yes, of course I made the mold from the actual fossil. 

Oh and I turned it upside down cuz the pattern looks great from the backside.

I'm going to be listing this

The nubby white stone bead and the veined jasper cabachon are from fanciful devices. The 'wave' has been domed and dimpled, textured, strategically oxidized and has a brass embellishment cold connected to it.

Check out the cool eye painting 'onlyjolie' emailed to me.  If you remember, she's the one who commented on the giveaway that I'm a perfect creative queen or something to that effect?  Well see what being nice to me gets ya..........

She said it would be just fine if I shared it with all of you.  Great job, Jolie!  I love it!  I love how you put the reflection in the eye and how the eyelashes actually look fuzzy.  Some of you may remember that Jolie and I are pretty chummy.  Genetically chummy.  Which might be why she says such nice things to me.   You can imagine how absolutely thrilled I was to find out that she likes eyes as much as I do!  And because I think it's so cool that she likes eyes and isn't creeped out by them, I have a few eye things to send to the uber talented Jolie.  Who is also a very talented writer and quite the amazing singer.  Here's what's coming your way Jolie.....

you did say you like big weird rings.  Well, you've come to the right place! Oh and there's the "Jeepers Creepers Where'd You Get Those Peepers" necklace in there too! Plus a few pairs of earrings, only one pair with eyes, though.

that's one of Petra's fantastic beads there with the big toothy grin.

oh yes, Jolie, there's more.....

aged text, a bone bead and a cute little honey bee on the outside, lots of layered text encased in resin on the inside for your wearing comfort.
this next one is rather discreet so that you can wear it when you're performing to remember I'm always there with you in spirit.

How's that for a bunch of large, slightly weird rings?  This awesome eye bead was made by a local lampwork artist, Jo Kaczmarski. 

and last but not least

this fabulous bracelet is by fellow etsyian Molly Heltsley.  It's a baby doll eye that opens and closes.  How fun is that?!
Thank you Jolie for sharing your artwork with us!  Love it!

You may have seen some of the foldforming listed in my etsy shop.  It's one of my favorite techniques.  But just wait till you see this amazing foldforming by yet another talented etsy artist, SplendidFish

This is his Golden Orchid necklace.  How is that for cool?

Now I've had you looking at all these pictures and once again, I didn't get to the tale of woe.  Do we even care at this point?  You would only have to look at 11 more pictures to get to the end of that story.  Are you up for it?  Naw, me neither.  Another day. Maybe.  What's that? When I'm a bit more entertaining?  Ok.  Sounds like a plan.  (no, I'm not talking to myself.  I'm talking to all of you!)

I'll leave you with this........

Here's a hilarious statement that you're sure to appreciate...  my friend Kathy, yes THE Kathy, and no, she isn't a figment of my imagination, anyway, she thinks I don't blog enough!   Braaaaahahahahahah.  I know, right?  Hey Kathy, I was giving everybody who commented for the giveaway a chance to see my response to their clever comments.  And I was sick. You know how charming I am when I'm sick.  And, btw, we still don't don't see any clever comments from you on here.  These thoughtful people managed to take the time to comment and to say nice things instead of giving me the business.  So thank you nice people.  (and thank you, Kathy, because I know you did mean it as a nice thing.)   For those of you who asked questions, here's the answers as best as I know....I really will try to respond to your comments as they come in folks.  I just need an extra 5 hours in each day to keep up with my life, so don't hold your breath, okay?  :)

Skye, the reason my paper filigree looks so different than Fanci's is cuz I didn't cut the paper out of all the spaces.  I just pushed it through the holes in the filigree as I was applying it, while it was wet. Which is the quick version of paper filigreeing.  And go figure!  Fanci likes it!  See her comment.  That or she was just being very kind.  And thank you.  I'm not a pastel type either.  The colors are richer and deeper in person on the concrete necklace. 

Alice,  truth be told, the rock saw won't cut your finger off, but it will cut through rock!  I don't get it either.  It's the grinding wheels you have to watch out for.  get a tad to close and boom!  You're minus a knuckle.  Ladies, you should try the paper filigree technique.  The quick version.  So glad you like your earrings!  :)

martini, our only official Bond girl.  Hope you've recieved and had time to work with your treasures from Petra.   Did you see her new bead collections are flying out of her store?  wowee and one is heading your way!  The kuchi stuff is from Uberkuchi.  They always have something fabulous and different in their store.  You have a nature shelf?  cool!

Beatnheart,  thanks!  Did ya check out the gadgets?  Yup, I did it all myself.  Thanks for offering to help, really appreciate it and aren't you glad I didn't need you to? 

Petra,  aw, you're just too sweet.  thank you for the kind words.  Honestly, you need to be a writer.  You have such a way with words! Always so engaging and entertaining.

Gallery 13, thank you!  hahaha yes!  Concrete jewelry?!  It's not large at all and surprisingly, not heavy.  Only about 1 1/2" wide is all.  I'm guessing, didn't actually measure it, mind you.

fancifuldevices,  ok, are you really saying that you like the quick version of the paper filigree better than your perfectly executed style?  really? well thank you!  and thanks for all the other very nice things you said too. 

Corvid Delights,  Thank you! I'm delighted that she liked it. Twisted humor?  Doesn't everyone envision a giant starfish attacking a scuba diver as the perfect thing to hang around their neck??  hmmm

13,  thank you! The cocoons are available from larkspurfunnyfarm if you want to give them a try.   They are so fun to work with!  I actually made some other lockets from them and some necklaces.  Will blog about those another day. The lockets, that is.  I sent the necklaces to Kathy as a thank you for sending the cocoons to me in the first place.  So Kathy, how about you share some photos of those?

Shibui,  Welcome!  Thank you for the nice compliments.  I'm sorry you're having difficulty reading my posts. I've been messing with the widths of this poor blog's columns since I started it.  Sadly, these settings seem to be the only way that everything works correctly. But thank you for letting me know that it's giving you problems.  I'll keep working on improving things around this place as my less than stellar skills allow  :)

Tribalis,  So glad that you're feeling better!  I'm happy that the commenting is working for you now! Thank you so much, what incredibly lovely things to say. :)

A few days ago we woke up to a beautiful, frosty, crystaline coating of hoarfrost on everything.  Every surface, every branch and leaf and tree limb seemed to glow from within.  It reminded me of this stunning, pure white albino peacock. 

Have a great week everyone!

Hagoonea  (Navajo)