She's Got Fire

Guess who made her own balled head pins!??!?!

Guess who soldered a bail today after not having done it for five years??!?!? And it looks good?!?!?!

I am so excited. You don't even understand!!!

I was scared to try it but I made myself just jump in there (after responsibly reading all directions 5 times, consulting several library source books and placing the fire extinguisher at arms length)!

Oh! I'm sooooooo soooo deliriously happy!!!

Alas, I've no pictures to show because everything is busy getting refined. :D

*does fire dance*

Oh, I decided I'd give myself a Design A Day break this weekend. I'm pretty proud of my progress so far. Although, I honestly think this HUGE leap of fire faith counts. ;D

Design A Day - Day 9

So as I said earlier, today fared far better than yesterday in terms of creativity. I call this piece Flower Vase in the Window. Um...I love it! It's available for purchase in my Etsy shop, Beads In The Belfry. Wow. That bad boy sold in one day. Woot! I've relisted it here

I've created a wire window and the vase and flowers sit on the sill!

Vibrant. Fresh. Simple.

Creativity - It's just that simple and it's just that hard

So. This is just an ode to the creative process. A little background information. Yesterday I was having like a complete an utter block as to what to do for Design A Day 8. At the last moment, I made a flower ring. I'm happy with it but it was not *inspired*. It looks really cute on though so I can only be so upset:

One thing that is maddening and fantastic about creativity is how it ebbs and flows. There are powder keg moments of inspiration and slow simmering moments as well. And then there is a drought. I have to remind myself in those moments that the drought don't last always. Today, I have no shortage of ideas or things that I'd like to say/make! So I really like what Gwen Stefani says in this HP commercial and I took the time to transcribe it. Maybe I'll put it up on a wall or something. I think it succinctly says what I am trying to get at here. Thanks Gwen!

"Sometimes it's so hard to find what it is I'm trying to say. People might think you can turn creativity on and off, but it's not like that. It just kinda comes out - a mash up of all these things you collect in your mind. You never know when it's going to happen. But when it does, it's like magic. It's just that simple and it's just that hard." - Gwen Stefani

Cuteable

Isn't that just about the most adorable name? I was minding my own business when I caught wind that I'd been featured on Cuteable.com! As the name makes clear, they are devoted to all things cute. My Marshmallow Tree was featured! Check out that birdie rock underneath it - also, well for lack of a better word - cute! To see the feature in its entirety, please follow this link.

Design A Day = Busy Beads!

So I joined a Design a Day group. As you can probably tell, I like to join things...For thirty days, I am making at least one new item every day. I have been a busy bee! That is part of the reason you've not seen me on here. I'm trying to be more disciplined. Here are some of the goodies I've been making. Click on the title of any piece to be taken to it in my shop:

Small Horn Earrings

Swirls A Go Go in Sterling Silver

Apple Picking Earrings

Pearly Blue Teardrop Earrings

Sketchy baby sketchy

So every so often I like to interject other things on my blog besides my jewelry pieces. This is the first installment of some sketches I'll be adding. I've just joined a Flickr group called 365 Sketch and I am super excited to see if I will really make 365 sketches. Nonetheless, I will randomly add some of them here. This is the day one sketch. I did it on white computer paper (I know it's not archival. Bad Beads!) and it's a little over 2 inches tall and 1.5 inches wide:

Swirls A Go Go Ring

I was challenged to create a custom ring by one of my wonderful customers. She has been so patient with me. After a three week creative struggle, it finally came together. This is the prototype. She will be receiving a sterling silver version. You'll probably notice it's too big for my finger. I made it in her size to start. :D

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this ring. I will definitely be adding this design to the shop in the near future and I'll definitely be adding several to *cough* my own collection. I'm thinking one for me in sterling silver AND copper (and maybe bright silver, antiqued silver, antiqued copper, copper with verdigris...hey - I want it all)