Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Yeehaw It's a Moving to Texas GIVEAWAY!

Yessirreee Bob and whoever else might be reading this.  To celebrate the big move I'm having a big giveaway.

Here's how it all began.......

A couple days ago, the second most interesting man in the world calls me out to the balcony to see this



Gorgeous, right?
I'm thinking "awww what a romantic."
Not so fast, sister!
cuz two seconds later he holds this up with a
delighted look on his face.....










The official name of this giveaway is

"Snakes on a Plane.
Snakes on a Train.
Snakes in a what and why?"

All you have to do to enter is this;

A. Guess what this actually is and why a grown man with usually sound logic would have it. 
 Believe me, he has a reason.

and/or

B.  Concoct an entertaining and/or interesting story about it.  You know me, I do relish an entertaining story, so go to town.

What will you win?

Behind door #1-



Asymmetrical earrings
 made with components by the fabulous
Would you like a closer look as well?
Don't want this little lady from 
Small Bronzes  to have all the fun?
Well then, here you go...




Dagger, Claw and Eye

which is self explanatory except for that the roundish-gray
component that the striped bead is attached to, is a beach pebble
that Petra collected while strolling along her beautiful seashore,
 then drilled and sent over to me from the UK.


Behind door #2;





Amazonite, leather, brass and
chrysocolla.
This is a version of the bracelets described in this technique article...




hmmm, super pixalated.
Sorry about that.
I'll see if I can't dig up a better photo of that for you.




Ok, so here's the deal.
The first one I copied off my Pinterest board, "Published"
and the second one I copied from my computer files.
Worth spending a few extra minutes for a good picture, eh?


Behind door #3;


 
A papered and soldered glass necklace
with a faceted teardrop embellishment.
Simple for everyday wear.


and last but not least behind door #4;




A hand-dyed cocoon pendant topped with sterling silver components.
The handmade sterling beadcap was given a
raw silk treatment to compliment the silk making aspect of the cocoon, 
see cuz silk worms made the cocoon,
Oh  nevermind.  It's a long process. You get the idea.
Then I stuffed the cocoon with
vintage German tinsel.

So if any of these appeal to you,
all you have to do is wow me with your wit.
And you know, I'm easily amused.


But that's not what you all want to hear about is it?
Nope, you want all the gory details of the move don't you?
Huh, huh?

Sure I have a few photos to give you the flavor of the ordeal.
And if you stick around long enough, 
there's even a few new pieces of actual jewelry to share with you.

But first things first....

This is why I want a private back yard here in Texas


 
Yup that's another view of my back yard in Illinois during game time.  
And you thought it was all flowers and morning doves, didn't you?




This was a small turnout.
Yes it was a blast, but time for a change.


This is a really fun storm we had before the big move





Yes the skies do get that black and they get that way in a hurry.
Then they do this





and finally they do this...





Sure sure, it rains in Texas.
And everything is bigger in Texas, but 
I don't have any good storm photos from here to show you yet,
so we'll just appreciate what I left behind, shall we?

So we loaded up the cars, 
drove separately...




and away we went.


to here.....



See those crisp blue skies?
That's a Texas sky.

This is an Illinois sky,
 which Fanci correctly  describes as 
living in Tupperware.




But weather is not what you want to see is it?
Oh No!
You want to see my fancy studio
at our temporary housing digs, don't you?

Prepare to be impressed.....





This is my workbench....
Yup, a paper plate with a few random tools
and an empty cookie box (thank you C for sending all the scrumptious traveling goodies)
with some supplies.
Oh and that's my entertainment system there on the right.
The one that has very limited and spotty
access to the internet.
Cuz I have a mediocre data plan
that runs out in no time when I'm using it to look at pictures, 
which load very sloooowly (designed that way to test my last nerve, I'm pretty sure)
Oh but there's more...






Tools and supplies.
The bench pin and c-clamp are there to torture the hubs.
He's really nervous about me ruining the rental furniture
with my wild working style.
hahahaha
so of course I have to show him all the possible places
I could attach my bench pin .
Oooops, didn't mean to slip and saw right through
the rented table!
Yup, having some fun with that.





Not having so much fun working in this box lid.
As you can see, not a bit of
hammering taking place.


In spite of this I managed to put together a few things.
Including the earrings for the giveaway from some old and some new 
supplies from Scorched-Earth.
Here's some of her more recent work.......
I'm showing you this because if you blink you'll miss it in her shop.
Flying out of there at lightning speed.





Love these glazes and textures, shapes and styles.
and these beauties......





and more scrumptious nails to make earrings similar to these,
which you may remember are mine cuz I couldn't part with them.
 They get worn constantly, right now matter of fact.





there's these first ones using this batch of nails.....







Turquoise, sterling and Petra's 
amazing, lightweight nails.






Love Birds

Baltic amber, game commission bird leg bands,
olive seed beads and Petra components.




currently named Crusty Crystals.
Petra's crusty dangle drops, 
watchhands and acrylic crystals, 
which I used instead of glass to keep the earrings light enough to be
 comfortably worn.





Pyrite, smoky quartz, glass beads and you guessed it...
Petra's leaves.
She's making such incredible stuff
that I'm putting it in everything.  Kind of like my
Numinosity Beads batch of earrings from
a couple of months ago.






Her Rustic Romantic Dreams Fulfilled.
I dunno why I named them that.
Seemed like a good idea at the time....
assorted components and headpins by Havana beads.

and finally, these, which don't feel finished to me. 
Whenever I try to keep things simple this is what I get...



Do they need something along the bottom arch where Petra's porcelain pods are hanging?



The top is pretty busy.
Hmmm, thoughts anyone?

And these....




Headpins by Nadin.
These originally looked like a tomato and a chile pepper, 
probably because we had just eaten Mexican food,
but now they look like a thorn that pierced a heart.
And they look unfinished.
Need something else.

as do these...
maybe chains hanging from beneath the rose?




The Hands of Time Upon my Ivory Rose.






I did get these finished up before packing my studio in Illinois




Thank you all for your suggestions about how to fix these.
I went with a wider engraving of the sun's rays, then oxidized it, 
and went back in 
and engraved some thinner rays on top of the wide ones.
Also added some rays coming out from the rhinestones at the top of the earring on the left.
The scratched rays are still visible on the earring on the right, but I'm happy with the end result.
After all that, I realized they perfectly match a bracelet I made myself a few years ago 
so I decided to keep them.
Will have to make another pair for the shop, minus the ridiculous itty bitty sun rays.

This little bit of jewelry making has helped me keep my sanity 
while we've looked at I won't even tell you how many houses.
Let me just say our realtor is a dream and a very patient man.
Cuz we have looked at a bunch of houses.  A BUNCH!
And at the end of the long hot
looking at houses days,
sometimes this happens...




awwwwww.

He's a keeper.

Check out this cool pool house we saw at an abandoned lake house that we both loved.
Sadly, not the right time for us to be able to restore it, but it 
will be a beautiful place for someone when completed.



 

Don't you love it?
The house was once a glorious place, I'm sure.


Yesterday the hubs had to leave for a weeklong business trip.
It went something like this...




(in my alternate universe we look like this.  work with me here, ok?)

me- "But I just got to Texas. Do you have to leave so soon?"
him-"Listen, I got you those snakes to keep you company while I'm away.  Besides, I moved
you to this fabulous place with the amazing sunsets....."
me- "yes, what am I thinking/  It will be just wonderful while you're gone. I do have the sunset to look at, to while away the oh, 15 minutes it actually looks like that, since there's no internet in our temporary digs.  And since there's no tv in our temporary digs. 
And since I have my first bonafied Texas head cold and sore throat....
and have to go find free wifi to even write my poor neglected blog."

ok, it didn't go exactly like that......
but you get the picture.
He was good enough to buy me some organic (did you see that, Ellice) 
ice cream chock full of pecan pralines and caramel before he left.
Yes, ice cream is the way to my heart.
Opals are also nice.

So my first two weeks in Texas have been a whirlwind.
But not a single feral hog in sight.

A bit of blog news before I sign off....

In addition to her wellness blog ,
my daughter got a new gig writing columns about
 holistic health practices 
for those of you who might be interested.
You can read them here...


Congrats, Ellice!

and many of you already know that Flotsam Kim
has opened a lovely new store with the
sweetest of romantic jewels.
You can visit it here


Please pay them both a visit and
give them a little blog love.

so let's hear what you have to say about this.....






 
Since some of you (and I won't mention names) 
had quite the adverse reaction to the 
scary moving monkey on my last post,
I'll leave you with this




 How's that for a sweet face?
Don't want to be upsetting you delicate types.



Viszlat (Hungarian)
 


22 comments:

  1. Thanks for the big shout out mom and I am super happy you bought organic ice cream, I guess I just had to gross you out enough with the chemicals and beaver parts! Beautiful work as always,I don't know how you find the time...the orange tree is huge, I hope all of you are happy in Texas <3

    ReplyDelete
  2. The work you do, no matter where you do it, is just incredible. I MUST MUST MUST get my ears pierced!!! Your earrings are works of art. Seriously.

    Ok, so I'm assuming the snakes aren't real. Is their purpose to freak out people? I KNOW this is not creative, but my creativity seems to be limited to areas other than this. It's also not entertaining, but I do have my limits. Please tell!

    Kathy

    ReplyDelete
  3. How you pack and move and still manage to make all that cool stuff is beyond me! Organic ice cream? Who knew?!

    Okay, I hate snakes in any form...even rubber ones. Let's see.... I think maybe the second most interesting man in the world has a plan to keep pigeons? feral hogs? off your patio. So are rubber snakes in a jar of water supposed to do that?!? Or maybe he's making a jar of Texas Sun Tea to enjoy while watching the glorious sunset.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love your earrings :) Hope you get settled , or at least get a chance to get our your hammer soon.

    Think you need to upgrade the package for your comp... for some reason, you kept sticking a warped picture of some faux suede cording I have in a giveaway on my blog... lol are you entering? lol Is this your way of making me laugh? lol

    ReplyDelete
  5. I believe the second most interesting man in the world is tired of being second. He has hatched a plan to scare the first most interesting man in the world with rubber snakes by placing them in Mr. First's bed, afterwhich Mr. First will have a heart attack an die. In swoops Mr. Second, who has just become Mr. First, and everyone lives happily ever after. Queue the romantic music and dim the lights baby!

    I'm glad you survived the move, and I'm amazed you managed to make all these new pieces (all gorgeous) while unpacking and settling in. That ice cream must have given you quite a boost!

    ReplyDelete
  6. You ladies are awesome! Thank you for the great comments. But I must sadly dash all those generous thoughts of yours. There's no Impressive jewelry making while unpacking and settling in going on here. This is short term, living out of suitcases type of housing. Not unpacking a thing. :). You must have me confused with Super-move-in-a-day-and-list-a-gazillion-items-Petra. But I'm just as pleased as can be that you thought it was possible. Wow! You just keep right on thinking that, ok? :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. So, ya know how Tequila, is supposed ta have worms right? Well this is the Texas version of Tequila. Neat ethel alcohol and snakes.
    Just ONE sip and you are totally hissed.
    Hope you find your perfect studio soon, oh and don't get a house that faces west, you'll fry (ask me how I know)
    xx

    ReplyDelete
  8. Texas tequila gets ya hissed! That's clever.
    All the earrings are scrumptious. Cooing after the love birds and your gawking bronze statue. Petra and Numinosity kim have both been cranking out irresistible goodies at warp speeds.
    I laid those slate tiles under our woodstove. Nice colors eh?
    How peaceful it will be not to have a football field in your backyard anymore!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have to say, for someone living out of suitcases and looking for housing, you've done a LOT. And that organic ice cream has me salivating! Good luck with the house hunting, and best of luck in your adventure (yeah, that old house looks fantastic, what a cool potential studio). xoxo Juliette

    ReplyDelete
  10. ditto what juliette said about the earrings and what vintajia said about the jug o' vipers. i know that makes no sense b/c they're plastic, but its all i could think of.
    oh wait! it's a prop from a play or tv show... it was on a bookshelf... in a magic shop for witches and occult paraphenalia.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Now for the contest what did we have to do again...I forget.
    Yeah I agree with Juliette...you do more work and are more
    productive then when I am home all day and night sitting around....what’s up with that...there must be 50 of you.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Other Janet, where in Texas are you? If you're anywhere near Fort Worth, drop everything and go directly to the Kimball Museum. I know it has lots of fabulous stuff, but the BUILDING is by Louis Kahn, and it eclipses everything, even that sunset. Just go, sit on the benches and look at the incredible light and shadow play. It will help whatever irritations you currently endure. Promise!
    Contest? Rubber snakes? (Haven't a friggin' clue...)
    Willow Janet

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh my word - look what you did with my beads!!!! They all look wonderful - thank you!!! Your nail earrings are fabulous - as are all the others. I just LOVE the chile and tomato ones. It's amazing what you can do with a paper plate and some pliers!
    Oh wow - that view looks SO much more appealing than footie players! You really get those sunsets to watch? Not sure if it entirely makes up for no telly or internet though. Hopefully it won't be for too much longer now.
    Snake wine gets you hissed - good one, Greer!! Ha! Looks like Mr Wonderful 2 has us a bit stumped with his snake fancying! Awww, but he rubs your feet!!!! What an angel!
    Mmmm, lovely Janetty sized post - and gorgeous jewellry pics! Wildly generous giveaway too xoxoxoxoxox :O)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow is all I can get out of my dropped jaw at this moment. Yeah, Petra... I can spin off of her work for sure. I can't wait to get my next shipment myself. You have really done it!
    Still thinking about the snakes... I have some photos of real snakes in jars if you want to see them!

    ReplyDelete
  15. "E" says "thank you for all my stamps, the cards worked good, it was fun to use them". "E" thinks that your husband left the snakes to make it hard for people, and to make the story, to make it as a joke for you and to make it look scary and "real estate" LOL. Her story about the snakes is: "Once upon a time there was three snakes, they hopped into the jar, I don't know why they hopped, because snakes can't hop. Haha very funny." About the bird earrings she says, "the bird earrings were cute, I love the crystals and watch hands earrings, the blue crystals were beautiful in the pyrite smoky quartz. The "Rusty" Romantic dreams were as pretty as you could imagine, I love them very much".

    Thank you my dear friend for mentioning and supporting the new shop. I am so happy to see that you have pretty blue skies now, and it amazes me what you can create off of a box lid! All your earrings are gorgeous, such great components combined in wonderful ways, I love to gaze at your wire wraps. xo!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I am so incredibly impressed that you can not only make jewelry but sound so completely coherent having just moved, I'd be a mess. Amazing ...

    ReplyDelete
  17. Glad you made it safely to Texas. I do expect some jewels with horns now...........well something that is Texasy. Is that a word? Nice view from the temp digs.

    I figure that the jar of snakes are the only three in Texas that are not poisonous. You will study the jar and when you venture out into the back yard, if by chance you see a snake and it looks like the ones in the jar, fear not dear lady, they won't hurt you. IF, on the other hand the snake doesn't look anything like the snakes in a jar, then s l o w l y back away, all the while suppressing the urge to scream like a girl, well, you are a girl, but don't scream like a girl or a boy, or a man, or a woman, just back away and hope the snake is more scared of you. Yeah right,"they" always say the snake, spider, mouse, whatever is more afraid of you, but they lie. Pay them no heed, it is just a way to psych you out.

    Anyway, that's my take on the snakes in a jar. Unless of course, they BBQ them, cuz I've heard that everything in Texas is tossed in BBQ sauce. hehe

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hey there!

    Glad you're safely in the great state of Texas! For someone who's limited to working space and supplies you are certainly going to town creating! You are definitely my hero! All of your designs are fabulous...I can see why you had a tough time parting with the "Petra nail earrings". I too have a hard time parting with earrings. They are my weakness. I always justify it by saying "well, these were the prototype". I love everything you've done. The lovebirds are so cool...you know how I love the bird bands! OK...enough gushing...

    This is my theory on the snake juice and I'm sticking to it! They are the one thing I am deathly afaid of thanks to my neighbor when we were in second grade. That's a story for another time. Snake Voodoo... You take a large glass jar, fill it with it with vodka and poisonous snakes...shaken, not stired, and set it outside by the light of the full moon. Place a ring of Texas rocks around it in a circle exactly 6 inches from the jar itself whilst sprinkling some herbs o'protection between the rocks and jar o'snakes. The snakes are pickled and when the real ones decide to sun themselves in your yard or on your deck they think twice about it. It would also be fun to set out for Halloween with some eye of newt...next to the pumpkins.

    Hope I made you LOL,

    Bond Girl

    ReplyDelete
  19. Finally I have an internet connection that will support your blog! Okay, first of all, BEAUTIFUL new work, but I never expect anything other than wonderfulness coming from your hands!

    ...and while I still have the fast connection, before it gets terminated, here was my FIRST idea... I thought those might be poisonous snakes, so I googled it. Nope. There are 5 poisonous snakes in Texas, and none of them are in that jar. (The poisonous ones are really fairly innocuous looking... you should really google it, for your own safety.) My next thought was hmmmm... I wonder if you can EAT those particular snakes!?! Because it's Texas, I googled "Texas good eatin' snakes!" The green one came up! (lots of yummy recipes...)So I'm going with this: SNAKES ON A BUN!

    Wishing you a happy and event-free move!
    xoxoxoxo
    Melinda
    (Bees On Pie)

    ReplyDelete
  20. What a post! I'm amazed by your productions in such conditions! You're super-woman for me!
    I love the turquoise with Petra's nails! and that little pool house is a dream...
    So many wonderful stories about those snakes in a jar, I particularly like the voodoo one! I was wondering if you would make some molds out of them as you did from jellyfishes? or maybe the Second Most Interesting Man in the world intends to have a room in your future home like those old university room full of jars from floor to ceilings containing monstruosities like kitten with two heads, I've been in one of these creepy room when I was a child...still have the creeps thinking of it.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Please promise to mess with it when you're there... Because they say don't mess with Texas but to me that is just an invitation to set it right and you seem like the kind of gal who could give Texas a messin'. Oh and snakes in jars, that's just what the kids are doing these days. Don't worry. I have it on good authority :) Happy moving/temp living...maybe you can write a book on Arting it Up in Small Spaces.

    xo
    Crankypants

    ReplyDelete
  22. I loved the tupperware sky remark- I am going to use that one for our weather, now!
    The bottle o' snakes is a special purchase from your hubby's last visit to the gypsy fortune teller. He bought it along some good luck tokens to help in the house hunting- I guess they aren't the fast acting kind, but they will eventually help you find the most perfect house with great light and lots of room to make your cool stuff. The snakes make the magic stronger and the mortgage rate lower!

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear what you have to say. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.