The long road home

I left for LA on July 28th and have been gone since then. First up was a week of illustrating and writing inspiration. How charmed is my life? Then I was home for one day, long enough to pack for two weeks in Michigan.

If my soul has a home, it's somewhere near a lake. I'm never more happy than when my feet are in the sand and I can hear the sound of the waves hitting the shore. The sunset - do I spend enough time enjoying the end of each day? Something I hope to fix soon. It's like the most amazing show happens every night and I miss it most of the time! We live near a lake too, I should make a mental note to enjoy more sunset walks.

Okay, so I even like the weeds better in Michigan. Everything is so green and lush. Texas is a wild, twisted and gnarly landscape. Funny how much I miss the trees from my home. But I'm happy here too. I missed my husband, my home and my studio. I'm looking forward to jumping back into things and working on some new ideas. I'm also heading toward the home stretch of working on the book. It's due in December. I hope you all love it, it's packed with inspiration and goodies.

I have 3 weeks worth of ideas in my sketchbook, a renewed spirit and now some free time as I have made some adjustments to my schedule.

What you might notice? My Etsy shop is going to stay closed for a few more weeks. I will be focusing more on my website, adding new work on a regular basis and making sure my website is the best place to find my beads. Etsy and I will still be best buds, but with more limited editions and jewelry. While my website will be filled with my best-selling beads, so be sure to stop by and see what's new!

ancient owls and sea urchins

Okay, so I couldn't go my whole vacation without making a bead. Rosanne is a terrible enabler. She brought over her sculpey mold-making clay and an ancient Greek coin. We then raided my Grandma's antique & vintage spoon collection for more inspiration. After we made the molds we panicked and ran to Walmart to pick up some clay, who can stand to have molds and not make beads? So this owl is a prototype. The final ones will have a different surface treatment, since my regular paints are in Texas, just waiting for me. The owl coin is dated from 200 B.C. I'll have to copy down the info from her certificate on the lore and details of the coin.

And huh, I didn't bring anything to make jewelry and yet, I managed to make a necklace. This one is some of our treasures from Tradewinds Bead Store and the little bead shop downtown.
The long beads are real sea urchin spines, rockin'! Then we have wood beads, faux sea glass, a lampwork bead, moscuvite and bronze seed beads and of course, the focal is my sea urchin.Here we have Rosanne and Baby J raiding the beads. They were quite funny to watch. Rosanne would put one in the box and Baby J would pick it up and put it in another spot. Each bead got an excited "yum" from both of them. I should have video taped it!

Looking forward to another fun day. We ARE going on the tall ship today, we were gifted with tickets. Can't wait! And tonight my little bro and I are heading to the movies with the Aunties. Only 3 days left, trying not to think about it and squeeze out every moment I can!

Beads Ahoy!

Here is a little nautical break for those stuck on land! They have a tall ship in South Haven that sails out daily. It's a little pricey for our vacation budget, did I mention there is going to be bead shopping? It's fun to see the ship on the lake, looks just like the pirates have come to port! Now, if only Johnny Depp would wonder into town...

Is there such a thing as a 5 day weekend? I think I'm having one starting today. A long-time online bead buddy is coming to visit me today! We are going to play tourist downtown and enjoy the beach. Tomorrow will be bead shopping. Friday will be a little more relaxing and then it's back-to-back family picnic/potlucks. Saturday is the beach again, Sunday a cookout. My vacation is flying by too fast. So I'm not sure if I'll be back to the blog for the rest of the week. I think I need to savor some moments!

And speaking of savory, here are two new listing in the ol' etsy shop:

Creative Withdrawal!

Okay, I'm starting to feel a little stir crazy with no clay around and nary a pair of pliers in sight! It's so hard for me not have my hands busy all the time!

This is a lariat that I made to wear to my sister's wedding. I used one of my long Klimt beads, 3 branch disk beads, vintaj brass and an assortment of stones, lucite flowers and crystals. It's my new fav!

I've been enjoying the lake, sunsets, sand and waves. Here are some ocean wafer beads that I have had in my stash for a while. I snapped a bunch of photos before I left for vacay, and will be posting the beads to my etsy shop over the week. A girl has to scratch out a living, even on vacation! Actually, I just like having money to shop while I'm here, who can blame me! There is a bead shop in town, farmer's market and a whole row of quaint little shops. I dreamt of antique shopping last night, it might be a sign that there is a treasure waiting for my downtown!

So do you take things to work on while you are on vacation or do you leave it all behind?

Camera Works!

Yeah! I finally figured out how to upload my photos to this computer. We went for a little nature hike today and there was a field of day lilies that a woman planted in her front yard. Day lilies, tiger lilies are they the same thing? I'm not sure.

This was only half of them!
"...Consider the lilies in the field and how they grow. They don't work or spin yarn, but I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them." - Matthew 6:28-29
Tomorrow is little E's birthday. She'll be 10. Watching your kids grow and become their own person has got to be one of the most amazing experiences you can have ever have. I'm so blessed to be their mom. We miss Jess terribly. Little things will remind us of him and we'll all do a collective sigh. He is mr. lonely, eating his crazy bachelor food, pouting when I call him. Poor, poor Jesse. Maybe he'll feel creative while we are away and spend some time making more amazing things in his corner of the studio. (hint, hint Jess, make more of those houses!!!!) Or maybe he'll really surprise me and have the leaky kitchen faucet fixed by the time I come. (hint, hint, again...no, I didn't just nag my husband via my blog, did I???)
Playing with my macro lens.

Come back tomorrow for some more photos, until then need a vacation of your own but can't get away? Follow Kerri Smith's guide for a free mini vacation.