ode to jen, superstar!

this here is a piece that i made for jen (of nightlightbeads.etsy.com). she makes many of my lampwork beads and cabochons and she is FABULOUS! she wanted me to make her a necklace with 3 of her cabs and 3 stars. it felt like a science project, in a good way. i had to figure out a way to make the stars big enough to set the cabs in the center without the entire piece being enormous. (it is, actually, still pretty big at 2".) this is how it turned out and i love it!

jen, you better be ready to feel like wonder woman, with super powers abounding, when you wear this!

i love blind pilot!

how adorable is he with his little ukulele?

on tuesday, one of my very favorite bands, blind pilot, came to telluride. crazy! they are a sweet and lovely 6 piece "alternative folk" band. they have fabulous musicianship, amazing lyrics, and are also just really nice people. i made israel (the singer) a pick, with some of his lyrics, "we are only strumming water on this most unlikely chord", on it. he is very shy, and he appeared to be very touched by it. he said it meant a lot to him; it was really cool.

before we went to the show, we went out to dinner. we told the waiter we were on a date and we had a babysitter and we were going to see one of our favorite bands. he said we needed some jager shots. he bought them for us. i was a bit drunk when i gave him the pick. this is a VERY terrible picture of me, but it's the only one i have, so i am sharing it with you. (notice the pick in his hand...)

giveaway!

because i would like to attract more folks to my blog, and get a better idea of who is already coming, i am hosting a giveaway this week! this lovely piece, features a beautiful glass cabochon with olive green, red, turquoise, and black, made by teresa (at tajones1463.etsy.com). above that is nestled a sweet little turquoise cabochon. there are several sterling balls and a "bullseye" ingot as well. on the back, apropos, is stamped "be free indeed", along with my sparrow and initials. the pendant, which measures 1 1/2" x 1", hangs from a nice, 17" link chain.

so, here's how it works. in order to win, all you have to do is leave a comment under this here post. very simple. i am just going to do an old-fashioned drawing. (my dear hazel, 4 years old, will be doing the actual picking of the name.) if you leave a comment, i will enter your name once. if you become a follower of the blog, i will enter your name twice. if you also tell me how you came to the blog in your comment, i will enter your name 3 times.

the drawing will take place next tuesday, august 25th, at 5:00. i will announce the winner here and you can e-mail me (silversparrowdesigns.gmail.com) with your address so i can send it to you. good luck!

evening in estes...

this is a ring i made in honor of our trip

hazel eddie enjoy a morning cup of kids' coffee

kerry & kendra

hazel & bobby

junebug & i

kite flying at 12,000 ft.

june can hike too

the hitchhiker

eddie is precious.

spider dodger again...

well, aside from not being able to make anything for a week, while my sketch book fills up with ideas, one terrible thing about being away from my studio for that long is that the spiders are back!!! oh, dear, they have moved back in and taken over. i think it shall be dubbed "spider dodger studio" once more...

vacation!

i am going away for a week. a bit of luxury camping in estes park. by luxury i mean showers, heated pool, game room, wi-fi... crazy. anyway, we desperately need it. i will leave you with this photo of a drawing hazel did today. she said it was a "female wearing a lantern necklace"...

what could be more important?

so i made an important decision today. i am not going to put my stuff in the two new galleries. i realized, as i was writing a note to my dear mancos customers, apologizing for the empty shelves, that it just didn't make sense. i am barely able to keep up with what i am doing right now, with etsy and the artisans gallery. why would i add to my load? but the real reasons are these:

i feel i've barely seen them this summer; i've just been so busy. so i am sticking with what i got! and i brought a bunch of pieces that i was making for the new galleries into mancos today. here are a couple that will be in my etsy shop tomorrow. oh, and p.s. i am having a big sale this week, to show my love and appreciation for my dear customers!