once in a blue moon ~

'every once in a blue moon

something new comes along 

that scrambles your preconceptions.' 

a blue moon will occur tonight... it is defined as the second full moon in a calendar month... a second opportunity to give thanks as we ring out 2009... 

new year's eve brings up all kinds of emotions... hopes for the coming year and a review of the events of the past... reflections that bring up feelings of joy and sorrow, of accomplishment and yearning... 

perhaps it is fitting that one of my final pieces of the year is 'the caged heart' ~

'few are those who see with their own eyes

and feel with their own hearts.'

~ albert einstein

see, feel, be present... experience the textures and colours of life... the subtlety of meaning that imbues everything... 

break free of cages imposed from within and without... in steps large or small... have a goal to be more free by next new year's eve... 

and know that it all begins with love...

ceramic ring and heart from mellisa at chinook jewelry designs... beautiful hand-dyed yarn by myfanwy at sassa lynne... 

happy new year ~ and so very much gratitude to all who stop by my blog, who help me to grow, who share their wisdom with me... 


and congratulations to marsha neal for delivering her beautiful baby boy riley!

only one more day...

just a reminder that tomorrow is the last day to participate in mellisa's jewelry auction to help her raise money for komen race for the cure... 

all of the jewelry pieces include her beautiful ceramic work... 


and now, a thank you to heather of humblebeads for coming up with the 'fun with focals' challenge... she got me good and there is some serious brain stretching going on here... i have been walking around completely distracted with a blank look on my face... until the 'aha' moment occurs... she has even set up a flickr group to submit your entries - though you do have to post a link on the correlating challenge blog entry... 

'only as high as i reach can i grow, only as far as i seek can i go, 

only as deep as i look can i see, only as much as i dream can i be.'

- karen ravn

challenge #1 - create a horizontal focal:

'summer's stain' is all about copper and beautiful purple and toffee beads by leann of summers studio... i have had them a while, but no other beads were up to the task of complementing them... until i happened to get the faceted glass from artbeads last week... also used mykonos spacers and heavy gauge copper spiral caps... 

challenge #3 - embellish with jump rings: (got too distracted with this one to go in order, and we do have until nov. 6th to get the entries in...)

'dandelion diptych' was waaaay too much fun to make... decided to split a pendant 1/2 nickel and 1/2 copper but place the pattern of etching over both sides to make a complete whole... then put it together with the jump rings... it started to feel like a corset to me (i decided i need to try this laced up with wire as well)... because it was feeling really masculine even though the pattern was a natural motif, i thought i should add some things to soften the effect - a piece of amazonite, some light blue-green embroidery floss, small rustic ivory beads... curved some copper links for 'flow'... 

which challenge will you take on? :0) 

reach high ~

you're braver than you believe...

'promise me you will always remember:

you're braver than you believe,

and stronger than you seem,

and smarter than you think.'

christopher robin to pooh

mellisa at chinook jewelry is participating in the susan komen walk for the cure... she has decided to have a jewelry auction to raise funds -  & what a great way to help... if you win, not only have you helped an incredible organization, you get to have a unique keepsake as well... as we have discussed a number of times on this blog, it is a disease that has affected so many of us or those we love... i worked with mellisa to create a number of pieces to add to her offerings...

'hearts aflutter' was made with mellisa's beautiful heart pendant... her work is very feminine and it was nice to switch gears a bit... vintaj always looks so great with pink, so we were off! mixed beads - pearl, ceramic, stone, embroidery thread, vintaj accents... 

'hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.'

- georges iles

'hope whispers' started with mellisa's matte pink button... i etched a vintaj blank and added an etched ivory lampwork bead by mika at pinocean with some raspberry delicas for color... pink czech beads and african trade beads... a wrapped circle link of vintaj wire ... everything about this necklace seemed soft... 

'hope never abandons you; you abandon it.'

- george weinberg

'hope will set you free'... when you are feeling like the world has you trapped, know that hope can liberate your heart... created a copper cage to hold a beautiful little heart charm by mellisa... etched 'hope' tag on vintaj and copper bird charm just outside of the cage to represent freedom... cherry quartz & smoky topaz... double vintaj chain... 

mellisa has also created some pieces of her own... please stop by her blog... the bidding has started at $10... the holidays are coming... if not for yourself, maybe one of these could be a gift for a loved one...

thanks to all of the incredibly talented beads-of-clay artists yesterday for their open house!

and promise me you will always remember...