Materials Hard and Soft

I went to see the Materials Hard and Soft show on Tuesday in Denton. This is a national show that is always really lovely. I was excited this year to see pieces by former Etsy Metal member Erica Stankwytch Bailey and new member L. Sue Szabo. The piece above is titled Dog Nap and is by Roberta Eichenberg.

Some of my other favorites were by:
Jan Harrell
Lynn Cool
Mindy Herrin
Amanda Jaffe
Kyleen Jeans
Linda Lewis
Sophia Jung-Am Park
Sarah Perkins
Scott Schuldt

If you are in the DFW area definitely go see this show. I also recommend to all my artist friends that you apply to this show in the future. Hopefully I will remember to apply next go round!

Giveaway time!

It is time for a giveaway! I made a series of these petal earrings a while back and these two are looking for a good home. I will give away both pairs, they are Peridot and Coral beads on sterling silver stems. These are post earrings. Please read and follow instructions on how to enter. Two winners will be chosen at random.

There are three ways to enter:

1. If you are already a follower of this blog just post a comment saying so, if not become one and do so. You have to be signed into blogger when you comment so that I know it is you and have your contact info.

2. Sign up for my mailing list and leave a comment saying that you did so.

3. Become a fan on facebook and leave a comment that you did so.

All of the above have links on my sidebar to the right.
Please leave a separate comment for each of these that you chose to do. That gives you three chances to win. Good luck!

Shades of Green Polymer Ring

I showed you this ring a few weeks ago after I broke the pearl that was supposed to go into the large setting. I was bummed at the time and couldn't figure out what to make to fit the odd shape. I found that it is much harder to make something to fit into a setting than to make a setting to fit around a pre-made object! I tried cutting a piece of wood to fit in, and that didn't work (I hope to incorporate some wood into my designs soon). I have made some pieces with polymer clay, but only my textured pieces where I push the clay through holes in metal. So last night I played around with some polymer. I have been frustrated by this medium in the past, but am really excited by what I came up with. I also made these pieces and hope to incorporate them into some jewelry soon. I love the texture that the lines of clay create, and of course I love playing around with color, so I am really enjoying these.

Etsy Front Page!

Thanks to Amuck Design for alerting me to my Mod Fiber Ring on etsy's front page!

Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day

I think I'm late to the party on this one. I have been hearing little blurbs about 5 minute artisan bread recipes, and then noticed several books all in a row on the subject at Borders. I have been in the mood to bake bread, so today I googled "5 minute bread recipe". I came up with this one and it turned out great!

I don't think that I quite understood the instructions for shaping the dough. My loaf ended up an odd shape, after rising further in the oven. I think next time I will shape it into more of an oval before baking. It has a great crusty outer layer with a soft and yummy interior. I will definitely be making this recipe again. I did half of the recipe as written, so I have enough dough left for one more loaf. However, as small as my loaf turned out I think I could have done a full recipe and made it into two loaves instead of the four that it call for. Happy baking!

Learning as I go

I have been at my mom's today photographing and listing her silk scarves in her etsy shop. A few of my favorites above. I'm learning about larger scale 3-d product photography as I go! I realized that natural light is soooo much better than artificial, so I moved the set up to a bright window. Check out her shop for more beautiful pieces of fiber art.

Frank and I were goofing around and posing with Lucy the other night. I thought these shots turned out pretty cute. I love how Frank and Lucy are staring at each other lovingly in the one above, the two goofballs!

A Sweet Weekend

On Saturday Frank and I went to see Crazy Heart with some friends. We had been waiting a while to see this movie and it just came to Fort Worth. I was afraid that I had built it up too much in my head, but fortunately it totally lived up to my expectations. Jeff Bridges is great in this movie. The music is great and has a timeless feel to it. Several of the songs were written by Fort Worth native T. Bone Burnett, who is also a producer on the movie. I heard this interview with him on NPR about a month ago, worth a listen if you are interested in the movie or country music in general.

After the movie we went to Angelo's for barbeque. I had never been to this Fort Worth institution before, and I must say I am hooked. Here we are posing with the Angelo's bear, Frank is about to slap him cause I'm dancing with him!

On Sunday I made the Rustic Chocolate Pie again. Frank helped me make chocolate covered strawberries, and I also made homemade whipped cream for the first time. It was definitely a weekend of overindulging!

I found this awesome letterpress card for Frank on etsy. It is from Louella Press and they have lots of great stuff. I just can't get enough of letterpress cards!

More Snow Pics

My childhood home in Argyle

The light in our bedroom was so bright from the snow!

It snowed all day last Thursday and we ended up with a record breaking 12.5"! It was so bizarre. I was at my parent's house so I bundled up and walked around in the snow to take pictures. When I did get back home Frank and I took the dogs out for a walk to the park. I loved the quality of the light reflecting off the snow, it really brightened up the house!

Goody goody gum drops

Oh goody goody gum drops, that is how silly and giddy I feel at having received these wonderful earrings from Stacey of Wildflower Designs. I am over the moon in love with both of these pairs of enamel and sterling silver earrings! These earrings will definitely be well loved and worn, just like the pair I got from Stacey for my secret Santa gift.

Ring a Day-Bright Idea Ring

I found this little light bulb in my Pawpaw's stuff at mom's house. I knew I wanted to incorporate it into a piece of jewelry. Right now the bulb is not connected, just loose in the socket part. I'm not sure if I will epoxy it in, or do something else with it. I wish I could figure out a way to have the glass part removable and exchangeable with something that wasn't breakable. It isn't really wearable with the glass bulb in it, I wouldn't think. Still cool looking though!

Good Morning!

There were flurries predicted for North Texas today, but we thought it would be later in the day. Frank opened the front door this morning and couldn't believe how much had come down, and stuck! It is really pretty out there, and luckily the roads are not frozen right now. Malta didn't want to go outside, but I couldn't resist getting a picture of her in the snow. Lazy Lucy just got out from under the covers, and only because I made her.

Treasures

I have this bowl of treasures sitting on my dining room table. My dad made the bowl, he turned it on his lathe. Inside is a random group of things that have been collected on the beach or given to me. The big 'ol chunk of labradorite was given to me by a rock collector friend of my brother. There is a broken shell hair thing (don't know the right term) that I bought on our honeymoon in Belize and promptly dropped on the bathroom floor of our casita. There is coral collected, I think, in Mexico at my cousins wedding, and a piece of a broken plate the color of chrysoprase that my mom gave me. All of these random treasures make me smile, and I'm glad that they found a home in my dad's beautiful bowl!

I also got a new table runner, which I love. I found it in my mom's massive fabric stash, which we are slowly working on de-stashing. I helped a bit by taking this off her hands!

Connie Akers aka Mom

I have been helping my mom get her etsy shop back up and running today. Lots of photographing pieces that she had at the Cherrywood show and listing them on etsy. She is also pretty new to flickr and I have been adding her images there. Show her some love by checking out her etsy shop and flickr!

Self Portraits from College

I found an old sketchbook from a college drawing class, circa '94 or '95. These four self portraits were in it, an assignment that I did. I used to love to draw. I rarely draw or paint anymore, I'm not sure why. I do occasionally draw out ideas for jewelry designs, but that is about it. Perhaps I just have too many other things that I want to create? Perhaps I should start drawing and painting again?

I'm not saying these are masterpieces, by any means, but it is neat to see them again.

There is lots more where this came from, and evidence of my one time passion for water color painting. I will share those soon.

Ring a Day inspiration!

Karlie's sweet little fingers inspired me to try to rejoin the Ring a day project. I just couldn't resist. Look how sweet they are! I'm hoping that I can get some momentum going again and keep at it this time. Wish me luck.

Happy day

The sun was out all day today. That alone would make for a great day this time of year. There were other things to brighten my day too though. I used the gray creamer that mom gave me for Christmas for the first time and filled it with yellow spray roses. Yellow and gray is my current favorite color combo, and how can those sunny spray roses not make you smile?!

I cleaned house most of the day today, and though that part wasn't a thrill the finished product definitely makes me happy. I did stop and have a Chai break. I have been wanting to make this chai concentrate ever since I saw it over at Angry Chicken. It was really yummy, but a little gritty in the bottom from all the spices. Don't know if there is a way around that. And yes, I did have a piece of that Rustic Chocolate pie with my Chai. And yes, if you were wondering like my mom was, that pie is as good as it looks!

On top of a clean house, the sunshine allowed me to get outside today, which has been very rare lately. I picked up pecans, a still unfinished task, that has needed doing for a long while. I trimmed back dormant plants in the front garden and picked up around the yard. Spring cleaning never felt so good. In case you are wondering why the sudden cleaning spurt, my sister in law and niece are coming to our house for the first time tomorrow! I can't wait.

Ring for charity

I have donated this ring to be auctioned off for charity on ebay. All proceeds go to Global Giving relief fund for the Haiti earthquake. Please bid on my ring! There are 50 rings that are going up for auction. The fabulous Thomasin Durgin of Metal Riot has organized this wonderful ring auction.