.....was.....

Wayne County
Pennsylvania

Little Gifts

My Mother always says, "Good things come in little packages."

Us beaders know the tremendous value and excitement found in those little baggies that hold beads, findings, scraps, someone else's treasures they no longer need.  All good things, indeed!

Cynthia and I got together to bead a couple weeks ago.  It was supposed to be a day on the High Line in NYC, beading and chatting away.  The weather had other plans for us.  While the High Line would have had a nicer view, in the end we did just fine at a cafe table at a Barnes and Noble off the Interstate somewhere in NYState.  That is all we ever really need ~ a table to work on an a place to sit.
Cynthia gave me a pair of awesome ear wires made by her Fabulous Bead Girl!  I love the shape and the size of them!  Cynthia also gave me a baggie of jasper rounds.

Here is what I did with the ear wires and jaspers...I hope the Fabulous Bead Girl approves :-)

(I apologize for the photos...my computer won't let me crop, rotate, or anything else for that matter.  I am not sure what is up and I have been working on these pictures for a few dreary days.  I didn't want to wait any longer because I ran out of hope that the problem would correct itself)

The earrings are brown glass pearls, peyote around them and the jaspers radiation out from the peyote weaving.  Very Fall!  Very warm!  Very Happy Girl here!!!

Thank You Bead Girl!  I love the wires :-D  And thank you Bead Girl's Mom ~ you Know I love jasper...no matter what the size.

.....was.....

This week's .....was..... is not a big mystery.  It is what remains of Fort Hancock on Sandy Hook in New Jersey.   I was there a month ago, visiting an old, dear friend, collecting rocks, shells, glass, and driftwood...and a few abandoned photos.

Love.

"A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself" ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

When I started this blog adventure, one of the first blogs I followed was Windrock Studio.  My reasons were simple.  She lives in Colorado and her posts are lovely, thoughtful, and from the heart.  And she and her guy make beautiful art.  From those humble beginnings, the roots of a friendship took hold.  My life has been forever changed by her kindness, humor, and sincerity.
She is Susan.
If you haven't been to her blog, you should go.  Her husband Larry makes clay people that ooze with personality.  How he captures the vibe of real people in these characters is the true artwork.  It must come from  years of observing people in their everyday environments.  Susan works primarily with fabrics and lace, adding ceramics, charms, branches, feathers, photos, whatever the artwork needs to be complete.  Quotes are used in the vast majority of Susan's pieces.  She will quote anyone, as long as the saying is relevant to the feeling of the work.
In the past, Susan worked with leather and made THE most beautiful bags (Go!  Look!  FRINGE!!!!!).  Recently, she has moved from leather into denim and is making bags that are functional art.  She took all that was good in her fabric wall hangings, her knowledge in how to make a good bag, added a lot of denim as the main support, a touch of those magical charms and details and quotes, and voila ~ Love Note Totes!
The girls and I received a surprise package back in June and this superlovinggoodness was in it :




 For The Sunshine Girl

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."  ~ Edith Wharton

That is the quote on the Love Note Tote Susan sent for the Sunshine Girl.

From the day it arrived, Sunshine has kept a book in it, along with chapstick, a ponytail holder, and occasionally her eyeglass case.  When it is not out and about, it is right where I photographed it ~ in her room, on a hook, waiting for the next outing.










We love this sweet back pocket!



Sunshine Girl loves tiny things and this was right up her alley :-)




















For The Bug

This is what Susan sent the Bug...this quote is PERFECT for her personality.  And the photo is too! The little piece of antler dangling off the strap is the added touch that completes this  bag.  The Bug loves this bag and really loved the thought of someone whom she has never met took the time to make this for her :-)

For Me

I got a little teary when I opened my bag.  There were a few reasons.  The quote is one I live by, though I never heard it until this tote.  I am shaped by what I love...not external pressures of trends, finances, or keeping up with the Jones'.  The Garden of the Gods, the rocks in this picture, is one of my favorite places to go to in Colorado.  When guests would come visit me when I lived in Colorado, it was an easy place to get to so they could see something beautiful but walk easily as they acclimated to the altitude.   That would usually be a Day 1 place.  I saved higher elevations and more strenuous walks for later in the week :-) The lace leaves...I love leaves the most.  Flowers are Lovely but give me leaves any day!!!  And the last teary reason was in the receiving of something that had come from Susan's warm, loving hands.
I keep beading books, beading magazines, beading supplies in mine.  And a book of Leonard Cohen Poetry :-)

If these three beauties weren't enough. Susan included beads, feathers (! i love them like i love leaves !),  couple ceramic leaves made by Larry, and a few copies of the Pikes Peak Bulletin.  Larry is the editor for that newspaper.  The handwritten note meant as much to me as the Love Note Totes ~ there is something about seeing someone's handwriting that excites me so!  

Please take sometime to go see what makes Windrock Studio so special.  It feels like home...the kind of home with the sun shining in every window, a whisper of a breeze blowing through the front porch, and a welcoming warm hug that greets you just as your eye catches the margarita pitcher. 

.....was.....

Wayne County, Pennsylvania

.....was.....

Route 23
Sussex County
New Jersey

New Life for Old Pieces

 Clearing out a former workspace at a snails pace, I have been finding a lot of jewelry that was once my Gram's.  Some are not worth keeping any longer, some will be given away, and some are disassembled and reassembled with a bit of weaving.  There was a bracelet with a lot of tiny beads glued to it.  A lot of beads were missing, but the piece had these links and clasp that were definitely worth saving.  I loved the warm brassy color of the links.  But had a color scheme in mind and decided to follow Hope's Pinning with a Purpose lead and try to get a patina.  No patina the first time around.  Nor the second.  So I decided to change my colors and appreciate the stability of these metal links.  I will be trying the patina with other metal pieces I have.  I want to see the magic!

 I debated putting pearls on each black AB square, but the girls said it was overkill and to keep it simple.  I wanted it to fit like a watch and it does.  I might add one more link, but overall...not bad!

This filigree brooch was bought at an antique store...ridiculous considering the amount of jewelry I already have  and the price tag it held, but I had to have it.  And the old man who owns the store is smitten with me and I with him and I can never walk out of there empty handed.  He doesn't haggle.  I am not much of a haggler anyway.  But he does give me a teeny discount for living local :-) 

As soon as I saw it in the display case at the store, I knew it needed a zigzag stitch.  I was going to do it in turquoise, but when I finally started working on it, it really resisted the turquoise and wanted red.  After posting a photo on Facebook of it as a work in progress, a friend asked for it.  YaY!  

I popped the pin off the back and wrapped the loop down.  The hinge that held the pin needs to be filed a bit, as it is a tad sharp.  I was hesitant to cut those parts entirely off for two reasons...first, I didn't trust myself to not botch the whole piece (and I paid too much to botch it!); and second, it is to keep a little whisper of its past life ~ on the backside where so few will ever see it.  It is good to remember what things once were.

I bought cuff links at the same time I bought the brooch (and just found cuff links on Thursday that were my Grandpa's.....sigh), as I had a vision for them too.  I paid more than I think I should have, but hopefully they will work out.  I have a simple plan for them.  I think they will be next on the table.  And after that...who knows?!  It just feels good to get a jewelry post up again :-D