...on too swift a wing...

"every day has been so short, every hour so fleeting, every minute so filled with the life i love, that time for me has fled on too swift a wing." that quote inspired this piece. it is HEAVY, comprised of a layer of 16 gauge silver with an 18 gauge piece on the back, with the quote. as i am wearing it, i can so clearly feel the weight of it, an awesome reminder for me to truly BE in every moment and honestly enjoy it, whatever it is, even if it's not exactly what i want at that exact second. the stone is my beloved laguna agate, this time a laguna lace agate, in beautiful shades of brown. i added a small smoky quartz and a bit of stamping. i can't part with this one yet... (you may have noticed that i also unlisted the maven soul ring and the raincloud necklace.)

i am a member of a fabulous local artists' cooperative gallery. one of the members does these great calligraphy pieces with beautiful quotes. one day while i was sitting at the desk, i was admiring a new one of hers that i thought said "may peace reveal a path". when she came in to the gallery, i told her i loved the the new piece and she said "you mean the 'may peace prevail on earth' one?" i still liked the words i originally thought it said and when i saw this fabulous stone (a mexican crazy lace agate) i couldn't help but see a long and windy path. in addition to that, crazy lace agate is said to provide insight into the many paths that are available to us. unfortunately, it cracked when i set it, so it is priced significantly lower than it would have otherwise been. i love how it turned out though. it's big, but i used a 22 gauge silver to keep it lightweight. it's in my etsy shop.

these are the "niagara in a barrel" earrings. i have this very vivid memory of riding the "maid of the mist" when i was about 10 or 11. i went to niagara falls with my grandmother and my cousin, ty. we were on the ferry, wearing our oversized rented raincoats to keep from getting soaked by the abundant spray. i clearly remember standing there, being in total awe of the enormity of these falls, and the POWER that water posessed. the turbulence and the force of the noise was overpowering. i remember asking my grandmother "how on earth did people go over those in a barrel?" i just couldn't fathom it. i pictured those people, all cramped up in there, their bellies tight with fear and anticipation and excitement, knowing what was going on outside, just going with the flow and hoping they survived. i imagined that it was quite calm in there, quiet even despite the outside roar.

and so, these here earrings are to remind us that even when everything is turbulent and crazy on the outside, we can be calm and quiet and peaceful on the inside, holding on for dear life. aquamarine is a "stone of courage" , while kyanite brings tranquility and calming. so there ya go. keep calm and carry on, right?

our little swiss vacation

i got a bit camera happy this weekend. we went to ouray to camp, but when we arrived it was pouring down rain, so we got a hotel the first night.

couldn't be happier

this unwelcoming little sign was on the door at "mr. grumpypants brewery" (in case you can't read it, it says "it's not that we don't like kids, but we don't drink beer at your child's daycare either") glenn, who likes to get a beer at any brewery we see, insisted on entering anyway...

mr grumpypants himself, at said establishment

she's doing it!

all snuggled up in the hotel

there are few things better than a good cup of afternoon camp coffee

the view from our camp, in ampitheater campground

molly and simon love camping

in case you don't already know this about me, i LOVE beavers. they are my very favorite animal. i admire their creativity and industriousness and ingenuity and self-sufficiency and their TEETH. on one of our hikes, i was so sad to see that someone had kicked in this lodge, after all that hard work... there was still a very strong beaver smell; it must have been recent.

sweet new thistles, of the higher elevation variety

fall is coming

molly loves a good swim; simon won't go near the water

this strange little (manmade?) structure was in the crazy mustard colored water. glenn said it's from the iron in the mountains.

these might be some of my favorite photos i've ever taken. i didn't realize it when i was taking them, but there is the perfect reflection of mountains and clouds behind the goldfish.

junebug's first marshmallow...

oh my goodness

more? please?

deleriously good

big changes in my etsy shop!

so, i bit the bullet and made the transition from "made to order" items to "ready to ship" items in my shop. i am a bit nervous, but i felt i had to do it. i am still really trying to find a sense of balance in my life and this seems like a good start. i have lately found myself feeling so overwhelmed with the big stack of orders sitting on my bench! at the same time i have been so very inspired with all these new deisgn ideas that i can't wait to make. i decided to allow myself some breathing room and to try it for a little while and see how it goes. i am going to give myself until after the holidays to just make the pieces i feel inspired to make and (hopefully) sell them. i am going to continue to make custom guitar picks and wedding bands for the time being, but those may have to go too, depending on how things flow.

what do you think?

maven soul

my friend's wife is pregnant with twins. i wanted to make her a necklace with moonstone because one of its' many properties is that it helps with pregnancy and childbirth. he liked the design of the maven soul ring (below), so i tweaked it a bit for her. the labradorites are to represent the twins...

this here "maven soul" ring is available in my etsy shop (if you can convince me to take it off my finger). while i was making it the word "maven" kept popping into my head. so i looked it up; it means "one who understands". i do believe i will be using that word again.

so, as you may have read in my etsy shop announcement, i spilled water in to my BRAND NEW macbook pro (apple just upgraded and replaced it about a month ago!). i feared the worst. to make a long story short, i took it in to the apple repair center in durango on monday. the very sweet guy who works there called yesterday to say that he knew i needed to replace the "topcase" which would be $400, and he was pretty sure i needed a new "motherboard" too, which would be $750. however, when he was trying to remove said motherboard, he stripped a screw and basically broke it. sooo, to make up for it, he was going to split the cost of a new one with me, which would still mean that i owed about $800 before i'd have my computer back. (i bought the computer in december for about $1100 and wrote it off on my taxes.) OR, because he messed up, he would be willing to give me a "refurbished" macbook for free, with my original hard drive in it! well, i did not have to think twice. i get to go pick it up on tuesday. he said that once you spill water into one of these babies, they often just continue to fall apart and corrosion messes things up, so i am actually coming out ahead.

maybe i will see if he can fix my ipod...

my new studio muse (mews?)

so i am trying, yet again, to try to find a good match for my studio/ barn kitty. what i need is an employee, or i guess maybe an indentured servant? if i could create a personal ad for the perfect feline match for me it would read something like this:

wanted: someone who will work for room and board and love. someone whose presence alone will deter those rude rodents who leave droppings all over my studio, and who may even occasionally catch one or two. (and then discreetly dispose of the body, so i never have to see it or smell it or deal with it in any way...) someone who is playful and sweet, yet independent and polite. someone who will keep me company while i am in my studio, but not get under my feet and make me fall and play with my wire and cause to become all jumbled and tangled. someone who will not jump onto my back and dig his claws into me while my torch is going. someone who knows where to poop. someone who will stay...

i think i may have found her.

this here is jasper. (hazel wanted to call her "jasmine" but i just couldn't. we compromised. ) she is a tortoise shell, and is evidently less than 2 years old. she is sooooo sweet! at the shelter, where she had been for 8 weeks, they told me she was also a houdini. apparently she was opening her cage each evening and each morning they would find her, free. look at those prehnite eyes.

when i picked her up after her spay, i commented on how stinky she was. i was informed that as soon as she felt comfortable in her new surroundings, she would start grooming and preening herself. i've had her for just about a week now and today she was a little grooming storm. i hope that means she is happy here.

first there was "maybe" (remember him?), an 8 month old orange male kitty from the shelter who disappeared after the first snow. then last spring i got "sue & lou", two tiny little orange fluff balls (who both turned out to be boys) that promptly vanished 2 weeks after we rescued them from certain death down the street. but jasper, she's different. she's a girl for one thing (the women are smarter, that's right) and a bit older. also, i kept her in the studio for 3 days before ever even letting her venture out into the rest of the crazy old barn. now i am going to keep her in the barn for a few weeks before she goes outside. hopefully she will know her place better that way and be more likely to return should she wander. i'd also like to make her a tag so that she could be returned to me, but so far she will not leave her collar on. maybe the third time really is a charm? i hope so.

new stuff

after i spend a late night out in the studio, i like to leave the fruits of my labor out for glenn to see in the morning so he knows what i was doing when i wasn't snuggled up to him in bed. i usually leave them by the coffee maker. i like to picture him picking each piece up, turning it around, admiring it. in actuality, he probably just glances at them and can't really appreciate them yet because he hasn't actually had his coffee.

this piece was very fun. the chain is comprised of nine pieces of five different kinds of chain.

i love love love love love these.

hazel's first day

so hazel started preschool today! on the way there this morning, i asked her if she wanted me to stick around for a bit or just drop her off and let her do her own thing. she replied, "just drop me off please. i want to start learning right away." surely no learning was going to take place if i was hanging around. she did great though, and had an awesome day. i can't believe she is in school...



evidently june (who, a true artist, likes to create in the buff) was a whole different little person at day care today without her big sister around. i guess she was showing all the new kids around and waving good-bye to all of the moms, trying to make everyone feel comfortable. wish i could have seen it.