rainy day play

today was such was classic autumn rainy day.   i love days like these.   the smell of the wet earth and freshly fallen leaves.   just the right amount of chill in the air.  

i spent the day taking photos of items to add back to the etsy shop and managed to forget to take even one single photo of all things autumn right outside my window.  

my intentions were to work in my studio a bit, take photos for another bit and then edit and add to the etsy shop so that i could get it up and going again, then post about it all.   the day moved slow, but time slipped by quickly.   never made it down to my studio.   it must be that rainy day chill in the air that made for an unintentional lazy day.  

debating on adding the items to the shop after dinner, and seeing as it is after 7, it would be past 10 before it would get done, or should i hold off until tomorrow morning.  not sure how it all works when it comes to where it lands in the feed and all.    i have over 100 items to add back in, plus new items as they are completed.   i had planned to add 3 -5 pieces a day and new items as completed, but i am thinking i may need to step it up a bit.  

it was a quiet day here.   not much going on.   it is suppose to rain for a couple more days with a chance of storms.  some happy thunder and lightning would make this girl smile, not the stuff we got on may 31st.   before i head off to play chef i will share a few of the photos i took today of what will be in the etsy shop.

hope you have a wonderful evening.  

back in the soldering saddle again....giddyup

yeeehaaaa.  ohhhhh i just wanna solder EVERYTHING! 

my next project is to figure out just how i am going to assemble the sacred bone necklace i started on some time back.

so this afternoon i thought

 sacred bone makes me think head hunters and jungles....lost civilizations.  

medicine man.

vintage pharmacy labels

so i cut glass just a bit larger than the pharmacy labels. 2 days in a row now i have cut glass.  i have got the nack back baby.......uh....pretty much.

nope, you are not seeing double.

yup, if you know me you know what this means.

this is one of those -  one for me, and one to sell pieces.

one of the most important steps when you are assembling your piece to solder - make sure you clean clean clean the glass.  you do not want to find a schmere or fingerprint after you have it all taped up, or worse yet, after you have soldered the piece.  i use plain old vinegar and a paper towel, followed up with a shop towel....um...errrrr....usually  my shirt though.

next...repeat after me

flux is my friend.

the flux will clean the tape.  trust me if you miss a spot you will notice the solder refusing to stick to a spot.

too much flux though and it will loosen the tape, or ruin the piece because it can seep underneath the tape and get sucked between the layers of glass and destroy what you smooshed in between the layers, especially if you used something printed on an ink jet printer.  trust me, i have done this.

soldering jump rings.  this can try the patience of a saint. but, if i can do this i know you can. why do i know this?  because about 37 years ago i had surgery on my ear to make a new ear drum.  i woke up in the middle of the surgery, and i am guessing somewhere in the process it caused some damage and my hands shake. 

i also did all of this with the beast acting naughty as well. 

(the beast, if you are new here, is vertigo caused from positional vertigo and meniere's disease)

 i hold my jump ring with an old pair of needle nose pliers, and i say old pair because the next step will kinda  corrode them,  dip the jump ring in the flux. 

 

if you don't need to open the jump ring to attach the piece to your whatever...like chain, then solder the opening of the jump ring down. 

if you do need to leave the opening to the jump ring exposed to attach it to your chain, then solder the jump ring closed after the piece, or charm, is attached.  i have received many compliments from buyers and gift recipients for taking the time to do this. 

soldering dots....i can not tell you how many times i have soldered dots and boink...they pop off and roll off my soldering table.  

flux is my leetle friend.

i flux the spot that i want to place the dot on before do this.  all i can say is that over time they have stuck more and more.  i have not lost a dot today, and only 1 the other day when working on the easter ornaments. 

i still want them to look more.....dot-ier.  but, i have come to accept that maybe this is just gonna be my 'style'.

i love all things old, loved, worn and used and that is why i love the novacan black patina.

before you patina you must clean off the flux, i use vinegar on a paper towel

to get the shiny silvery look on the tops of the dots i go back over the dots after the patina has been applied, i use my leetle friend...flux and dab the top of the dot and then touch ever so lightly with the soldering iron for a fresh shiny tidbit of solder.  

i always wear these when soldering, and like i have said in the past i pretty much don't even cut a piece of paper in my studio without these one.  getting a chunk of metal i was cutting in my eye just one time is all it took for me.

after i have given some patina to my piece, i then give it a coat of this

the plan is tomorrow to start assembling the sacred bone and the medicine man necklaces. 

i ran in to a issue with some of the beads not having the size holes i need which has forced me to rethink the hows of it all.

let's hope i will have pics of the necklaces well under construction to play show-n-tell with this time tomorrow.

hope you had a beautiful day!

nighty night. 

smooches.



quick like a bunny

is how this post will be.  this arty girl is tired big time.   heartburn kept me up until 5am then i had peeps to wake up at different intervals, and being that i had probably just entered a good rem sleep when the alarm went off the first time i was way to out of it and woke up the wrong peep....oops.....

so i had the house to myself for almost 2 whole hours!  squeeeee!   and after about 2 seconds the excitement was gone.......i realized i had nothing special to do or enjoy and i had dishes in the sink to be washed by hand (hoping we can get the new hose for the dishwasher this month)  there was laundry, and bathrooms to be cleaned, vacuuming and dusting...blah blah blah and then the studio was calling my name.....or i could run through the house necked.....i could do the dishes necked......watch tv....well you get the picture and i have done all of the above already.....just kidding......ok, i have run through the house naked....ppppbbbbbbtttt...whoopie.   the only one that got a thrill out of that was mike, the dog....and well that was just creepy and weird.

so i got on facebook, nothing good going on there, and pinterest and someone had gone on a pinbinge and od'ed on some goofy fashion designer with really really ......um.....unique concepts. 

my message from God on facebook said:

On this day of your life, Christine, we believe God wants you to know ... that you can find a moment of rest.

Life is full of busyness: work, family, friends, housework, the list goes on and on. Take a few minutes right now to let yourself just rest. Quiet your mind and let the silence relax your body.

well, the beast had kicked my butt quite a bit over the last few weeks so i am rested up to here. (my hand is about 6 inches over my head)

thought i would take the advice of the last sentence and quiet my mind, and what does that better than doing the dishes....so i did the dishes and my mind was a chatter box. 

afterward i went downstairs to my studio and cut glass for future soldering projects.  i have not cut glass in over a year and had to teach myself some of the basics again, but it was fun....until i got an invisible sliver of glass in my finger that hurt hurt hurt and i could not see it.  thankfully i remembered to put a piece of tape over the spot and then yank it off.  it worked!

then i finished the other bunny necklace.  tomorrow i should be able to get it listed on etsy.

just 1 photo tonight.....and lots of words.  sorry 'bout that.  i know most people, including me, like more show than tell. 

i am going to snuggle up and try to get my mind to quiet down a bit and hoping i will be asleep before 3am.

talk at you tomorrow.  smooches.

dipping a toe back in the waters of blogging......

i know, i know i have been gone for quite awhile. 

november and december were a roller coaster ride and this arty girl was playing cheerleader to the hubby and kids while trying to hold on to faith and believe all that i was telling them to get through the holidays with cheer, and when january arrived i was drained and well in need of someone to tell ME everything was going to not just be ok, but wonderful if i could just hang in there, and to hold me tight.

in january our 2 year old computer bit the dust the night i was going to do a blog post.   we were told that it would cost 120.00 to fix it, and i thought how are we going to pay for this....then we were told 170.00....a couple of days later even worse.  the computer was not fixable.  i am thankful for qvc...we now have a new computer and we are making monthly payments....i so luvs my new computer, but hate the next six months of payments.   never, ever, ever, ever again will i own a gateway.  this hp is pretty darn cool.  to log in to sites that require a password i swipe a finger on the scanner.  my right hand index finger is facebook, and my flipper finger is blogger.....squeeeeeee!  and so now if you wanna hack in to my facebook you know which one of my fingers you need.....maybe i should not have given out such classified information.


i have so much to say.  so much to catch up on.   can't wait to share the story of our christmas miracle.   still makes me smile and gives me hope for a beautiful future.....i am in total awe to be truthful.. but  first i am dipping a toe or two back in the waters of blogging.  getting my feet wet and working up to my ankles....and so on.   i still feel a bit blaaaaaaaah and eeeeeeeee with a little waaaaaaa on the side.  not full on crazy, just kinda like what an exposed nerve might feel like after having been sanded on repeatedly.

 the last couple of months..... like a snail that has been poked by stick..... i sought the refuge of my shell,  avoiding even facebook.    thank you from the depths of my heart to all of you who kept on checking on me and poking me and sending me messages and writing on my wall.....you lifted me up and helped make this part of the journey, which like a nasty tasting medicine,  has been hard at times to swallow and keep down.......i am slowly making my way out. 

i just can't seem to hit the publish button with out a bit of show and tell......a post with out photos just is not a post at all....

yesterday:

 my wonderful daughter bought me  some essie sparkkkkkkkkelyyyyy nail polish and a butterfly headband, which i wore all day, even as i cleaned house.....yup cuz i roll that way.  she also brought me a bread co.  cinnamon crunch bagel sliced like biscotti and some honey walnut butter.  there is no photo of that because i ate it all gone!  i am so lucky to have such a wonderful daughter.  i feel so blessed that i have been able to have such a close relationship with my daughter.  my mother and i were never close.  i did not know how to have a mother/daughter relationship...but i am so happy we figured it all out. 

sam and i had a nice talk yesterday....something that has been happening more and more over the past year or so.  he is a quiet, keep to him self kinda guy, so i treasure our talks.  this one was about religion.  as i am growing closer to God, sam is trying to figure out what he believes and how he feels.  i understand him more than he thinks...there are bits of him that remind me of what i was like.  so we talk when he wants to talk and i leave him be most other times...no matter how hard it is, because i know, that like me when i was younger, if i approach him at the wrong time, the wrong way, with information he did not ask for it will only push him away.

and max and i talked and looked through a large bit of his rock collection.  a love we both share.  this morning it was all picked back up and he vacuumed up the dusty mess.  he is such an easy going guy that is going to make an awesome hubby and daddy some day.  he and i are so much alike.  we are goofballs and dorks.  we laugh at the most inappropriate times, especially when i am reprimanding him for his behavior. 

after looking through his collection for a heart rock for his girlfriend, that he is head-over-heals in love with, he stepped outside for a  moment and called me out to see this....

normally we can see jupiter near the moon, but last night there was the moon, and to the left a really really bright shiny planet and to the left of that a smaller bright and shiny planet.  i am not sure what was what but the bright and shiny in the middle was unbelievable.  he and i stared and stared thinking maybe it was a plane...we waited and waited for it to move, but it did not.  

the kids and i have spent a lot of time star gazing over the years, and i am glad we did, and  when most kids mostly don't seem notice or care about the simple little things, these kids of mine have an appreciation for these things. 

oh...one more thing...then i am done for today.....

so this whole etsy thing.   i have been thinking about closing up shop again......the other day i came across this email notification from an etsy peep. 


When curating my collection of weeping plants, I was so happy to find your cherry tree necklace! Curiously, this type of cherry is rarely portrayed in the art that I see. I have always thought these trees so delicate and elegant, and your unique piece truly captures their graceful, wistful beauty. It adds so much to the muted color scheme and the soft, nostalgic mood I was hoping to create with my grouping. So here is the link:
www.etsy.com/treasury/ODA1NDA3MHwyMDIwMDczNDIw/willow-weep-for-me?index=0
I hope you are pleased.
Now that I know you do this unusual and evocative jewelry, I will follow your site. I like to take time with treasuries, often wishing to leave the viewer with a particular feeling. When I am able to include another of your works, I will let you know. Thank you for sharing your gift.
Warm regards,
Diane


thank you God, and thank you Diane for giving me the umph to hang in there and keep going just when i was doubting myself.....again. 

be back soon with some pinterest goodies and a fail......just need to regather photos.

big sloppy smooches and big squishy hugs to you all.

oh...i don't know what the title should be

just checking in here.   yesterday was a photo taking marathon like no other.  the hubs and i had quite a rhythm and routine going.  it was wonderful!  without his help i could not have photographed half what i did. 

i was able to get all but about 10 scarves photographed before the sun pooped out on us.  i was pooped to say the least, it was 90 something degrees, the mosquitos sucked...quite literally.  today my back, shoulder and chest muscles are ayayay-achey.  who would think holding a camera would make you feel like a whiplash victim!  does not help that since the beast was beastly yesterday, i tensed up trying to keep from falling over.   nothing though that a couple of ibuprofen can't take care of.

 since it rained all day today the others will have to wait for their moment in front of the camera.  the backyard will be a muddy mess for a couple of days, especially since we are going from last weeks record high temps to record low temps this week!   one good hot steamy day would dry the yard out in no time. 

mike is loving jumping over the mud puddles, and then going back to run through them...such a boy he is! 

today i was all ready to start adding the scarves and i froze....pricing.  what am i going to price these at.  the process from beginning to end for each piece is lengthy, and for some pieces can be a bit labor intensive. 

i have researched till my fingers are worn to the bone and my eyeballs are ready to pop out of my head...ok maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration...but anyway.  i researched, a ton.

i found a shop, blurry, out of focus photos,  not much of a description, and prices i thought were out the roof and this girl is selling like hot cakes....ok they tell you the photos are a big, big, deal to selling on etsy, i obsess over my etsy photos.  and with that said i am even in the process of doing retakes on some items. 

i found another shop where the photos are gorgeous.  it looks like a catalogue spread.  the time this girl must spend on picnik editing her collaging her photos must be nuts.... does not hurt that she is cute, and tiny.  her scarves are 3 feet shorter than most of mine.   they have been wadded and put in a dye bath, then re-wadded, or lightly banded and dyed in another color.  i know this because i have experimented with this process for fabric to be used in other projects.  soooo....not a lot of work, blood, sweat and tears put in to her process.... she uses the same fabric i do....75 buckos for these scarves.  she is selling like crazy, and i think that is great, i am just without words, so to speak.  yikes, almighty. 

and yet another shop, awesome catalogue photos, cute cute tiny girl who is creator and model, and her back drops for her photo shoots....awesome.  she, too charges out the wah-zoo for her scarves and yet she is selling like crazy as well.   no way would i pay 90 - 100 for light weight muslin that has been wadded and put in a dye bucket, no matter what her photos looked like. 

i found yet another shop, who seems to have copied some of the previous shops techniques in layout and styling of the photos, but i would not call her photos catalogue-ish,  but they are good, and  she is a tiny girl, but, and please note here...i think everyone is beautiful, but if she is not what the general population would say is pretty.  her scarves are the same as the previous shops, and she is charging what is i think is a fair price for her scarves and over at her shop....crickets are a chirpin. 

from there i found shop after shop where the photos are mediocre,  there scarves were nice and dirt, dirt cheap these girls are way under pricing as far as i am concerned, and again...crickets chirping at their shop. 

some of them i get their lack of  sales....if you are going to model....put a schmere of make up on, chipped nail polish...really?...and girls tuck the tired, ugly, soccer mom bra in all the way in to your wife beater t-shirt....i get why their shops are quiet....if you can't take care of yourself...a little personal hygiene goes a long way girlies...then i sure would not think you put much in to your product. 

during the entire time steph and i were dyeing these scarves i thought i had figured out my pricing and then researched and found that we majorly seemed to be under charging last year...and would be this year. 

big sigh......... 

so today as i went to add my scarves, and froze, i  then researched again and again.   and i came to this conclusion....ok....i have not come to any conclusion.  

my hubby says i am too nice, i worry too much and have too much of a conscience.....if i were to charge for my scarves based on what the cute girl with the catalogue spread charged....i would be charging a couple hundred for my scarves....really....i think not.   i could not.  i will not.

my bead peeps tell me i am under charging for most of my jewelry pieces, yet i have not gone back to raise them up.....could be fear that the crickets chirping at my shop will keel over dead.


i have read where there is actually a psychological factor in pricing, if you under price people actually won't buy. 

so the big question here is...what is that thing, that thing that makes one shop crowded and another echo-y? 



right now, today, i am ready to close up shop, and every time i think about this, a little voice says just hold on a bit longer.  

who woulda  thought trying to decide on a price on a bunch of scarves could cause this arty girl to question her entire thought on what she was meant to do in life and drive her to tears.....sheesh.

i can't even blame this unruly little breakdown to hormones.

kind of thinking having a hubby, now going on month 4 of being  unemployed is getting to me a bit, just a smidge. 

thinking i will leave you all with a few unedited photos from yesterday and i am going to go curl up in the fetal position and find something funny to watch on tv, normally i love rainy days..but i am thinking a bit of sunshine on this girls face might help.  let's hope it will be shiny bright when i wake up. 

this was last nights be-u-te-ful moon.....

nighty-night....and big squishy hugs to you.

aren't they oh-so-pretty! squeeeee!

today i started the photo shoot for the first batch of scarves. 

finally!

i was covered, no lie, head to toe in mosquitos the entire time!  i have bites on top of bites and bites in places i did not know i had. 

i promised max i would not put this on facebook.  this is not facebook.   hehehehehe.....

he has always teased his brother and sister about their zits....now he gets 'em.  this masque is wonderful for zapping them. 


that is about all for now.  got a couple of busy days ahead...i will try to pop in before the week is out. 


nighty-night...sleep tight....smooches.