Puttering Around the House

From freak hail storms that came magically come out of thin air about two weeks ago, we've suddenly snapped into 95 degree weather!!! Whoa! With the extreme heat and longer light at night, we've been cooking dinner much later and eating out on the patio long after the sun has set. Well, talented gourmet chef hubby has been cooking :) As most people know, I'm cooking challenged unless it's sugary baked goods :) Here's a recipe he created!Hot Ginger Soba Noodles
3 carrots
3 yellow squash
3 zucchini
6-8 spring onions
1 bag pea pods (about 4 cups)
1 white onion
9 oz. organic soba nooodles (we use Hakubaku noodles from Japan)
4 grated or very finely chopped tablespoons ginger (hubby didn't measure - but he thinks about 4 grated tablespoons - it's enough when you can smell ginger in the air when frying)
soy sauce

Chop all vegetables except pea pods. Stir fry vegetables and ginger until soft. Boil soba noodles for 3 minutes. Add well-strained boiled noodles straight to stir fry pan. Stir in soy sauce to taste. Serve hot.

While I was watching him cook, I was reflecting on our last lonely Happy Kitty bowl. We had bought two several years ago but one broke and the remaining kitty just hasn't seemed as happy since that day.

The inside of a Happy Kitty bowl. Isn't it cute?? I love Japanese contemporary pottery design!

So, thoughts of the Happy Kitty bowl were fresh in my mind when I went shopping in downtown Portland. And look what I found at the store Three Monkeys!!! It was a little bigger and a lot more expensive, but yes, it definitely was ... a Happy Kitty bowl!! Now what are the odds of that??? Of course I had to get it and the lone Happy Kitty is now happy again with it's sister bowl :)

The back of a Happy Kitty bowl.

Puttering around the house, I also realized that it was finally time to paint. Our children were young Monet's and expressed themselves on the walls but now that they are beyond that phase it's time! I have spent many years pondering and plastering paint chips to the walls in anticipation of this moment and I've finally settled on the color. The new color will be .... pumpkin!! I just got the new Martha Stewart magazine and a dyed paper lamp like this would look *fabulous* with my soon-to-be pumpkin walls!

Photo from Martha Stewart.

So, the family will be painting this week and maybe next week too! We've never painted walls before so wish us luck and an aesthetically pleasing finished product! Next blog post when we are done :) Can't wait to show you the cool new jewelry lines I've been working on!!!

The Magic of Books

Every once in a great while I find an artist that seems to really embody creativity in a new way that stirs the soul or makes me think. It's not just pretty art, or cute, or sensational, or a technical marvel -- no, it's more than all those things. It *communicates* with you. And that is the kind of art I'd like to share today from talented paper artist Su Blackwell. Her works are made from fragile, delicate, oh-so-easily destroyed paper, but their subjects are timeless, classic and in a sense, eternal. I like the contrast! :)

"The 12 Dancing Princesses"

I love how she adds illumination to some of them, or better yet, *inside* of some of them.

"The Castle"

Interesting, no? In these next two you can really see how she deconstructs the pages and text of the book to pull out the story into a three dimensional image. I'm one of those people that can't bear to mangle or destroy any book, but her art is really fascinating. So, I guess I am both squirming and admiring at the same time.

"Alice–A Mad Tea Party"

"Alice: Through the Looking Glass"
all images from Stainless Steel Droppings

In other news, another great week at Saturday Market! Thank you everyone who has stopped by my booth to take a look! And a giant thank you to everyone who fell in love with one of my creations and did me the honor of taking it home! The last of the dragonfly necklaces will be at market this week and the first of the butterfly necklaces will appear, so if you are in the area please come by and say "hi"!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Mother's Day!!!!!

Garden Poetry

Dragonfly Necklace $25 from Jeweled Elegance
and cherry blossom tree from ... my garden!

dozing in the garden
a shower of petals
swift dragonfly

Dragonfly Necklace $25 from Jeweled Elegance
and chives and thyme from .... my garden!

in the herbs
a bejeweled dragonfly
is happy

Sprouting radishes in a huge re-purposed urn
in .... my garden!

first leaves
in the garden pot
-- table's bounty

One of the wonderful things about doing markets and shows is that you get a chance to interact with customers, make new friends and ... get invaluable feedback about your art. I really pay attention to what people say at market and use it to better my product and produce new jewelry lines. For example, last week I listened to many, many people rave about my dragonfly necklaces. They loved the vintage aspect and the dragonfly imagery, but what really attracted them was the free-form asymmetry. So..... today I took my portable bead box out to my garden and inspired by the natural beauty around me, created several more asymmetrical vintage dragonfly necklaces for this week's Saturday market.

I think the garden pictures turned out great! I usually struggle so with my pictures, but these turned out wonderfully without any photo tweaking at all! I can hardly believe it was my camera that took them :)

And I would like to thank Silver Bell Cottage for this lovely award!! She said I had "amazing and feminine designs" and seriously, my heart just melted in joy when I read that :) Thank you!!!

Saturday Market Grand Opening!

Today was the grand opening of the local Saturday Market I am a vendor at. It was a beautiful morning, the market was filled with happy vendors, and we had an absolutely great turn out of happy market-goers! Even the predicted rain held off until the very last 10 minutes of market - yeah!! I had been worried it would be a very soggy day :)

I couldn't wait to run home and post some of my booth pics! I gave my booth a makeover this year and I really like how much richer it looks now. Here's a grand overview shot. I would love to have more tables, but with a car full of car seats and kid gear, everything has to fit in the space left in the trunk ....but boy can I pack that trunk full!


A shot of my necklace busts. One for vintage gem and filigree necklaces (more on these in a later post) and one for just .... cool stuff! Do you like the brocade linens? I just love how rich they make the display look.


Close up of the necklace bust for "cool stuff". Both of these sold quickly.


My new booth display idea. I found two of these French-style bulletin boards in "antique linen" on sale and bought some wrought iron stands to accommodate them. They are just perfect for displaying pins and earrings! And it was really nice having such a strong vertical element in the booth to help maximize my table display space.


A close up of some of my hand crocheted pins in their pretty boxes. And you can see some of my new pretty business cards in the corner there :) (Those pins may look familiar to some of you as being from my Etsy shop. I will be pulling a few items from Etsy and/or the website boutique every week to take to market, so if you are looking for something and it is missing, feel free to contact me!)


What a fabulous start to market! Looking forward to next week already!

A Colonial Craft Project in the Garden

Still locked away in my studio making beautiful jeweled treats and goodies for Saturday Market, but a wonderful thing happened! It's been drizzling for weeks. Sun and blue sky too, but not a single day where the ground dried out enough to garden. And then this weekend ... some dry, sunny days! Time to take advantage of this opportunity, exit the studio and work on the garden for a bit. We are trying to get a vegetable garden in this year, so I built this!:It's a lattice for the peas and beans. I felt positively colonial building it, because those sticks are reed grasses my little guys collected and dried from the wetlands behind us. Then we trimmed them to size, staked them and tied them with twine. Voila!! A rugged, yet strong lattice from scratch!

Here is the drink that powered the lattice construction project. Well, not the exact same drink, but I needed really wanted an iced coffee this morning too. Since I am a Starbucks addict, I thought I'd share this delightful link from Zizoo on How to Order A Complicated Drink At Starbucks.

Now, back to work! As you can see in the pictures, it's drizzling again today. Wish me warm, sunny weather for the grand opening of market this Saturday!!

***Update: I have two zero of the free bird's nest hair pins left -- all the nest hair pins are gone now -- thank you for your orders!!! That means two more lucky people will get one free with their next order! It can be either from the main boutique or from etsy, since I know they differ a bit in product.

Getting Ready for Saturday Market

I've been locked in the studio all week cranking out product for the opening of Saturday Market. This weekend I made faux dichro earrings (these have 3 layers of the dichro papers lacquered on a mother of pearl base). And they look stylish on those vintage labels too!! I'm going to need to get more labels I'm going through these so fast - lol!And here is a pair in the company of a felt flower pin. I just love these pins! So retro and sweet! Not to mention colorful.

Jen at ARtful Paper Dreams tagged me to tell a little more about myself. These types of tags always take me forever, so here is the *very* abbreviated version as I take a brief break from production and enjoy a hot cup of tea:

2. What are two of the best places you have been to ---- restricting myself to the world of art and architecture, I'll pick the Cloisters Museum in New York and Hearst Castle in California. Look at the fabulous mosaic work in the Roman Pool at Hearst Castle. It's decorated entirely with 1″ square mosaic tiles, mostly blue and orange but some that are clear with fused gold inside. Plus, lovely globe lamps and statues of Roman gods, goddesses and heroes.

Roman Pool at Hearst Castle
Images from Sandra Leidholdt at Flickr

4. Name two things that pretty much everyone knows about you ---- voracious reader, organizing goddess, historical costume lover, designer and privacy advocate. Hmmm.. well, that's a lot more than three, but since I'm only doing a few of the tag questions that seems OK!

Here's a dress I've drooled over for two years that no one who knows me will be surprised I want! But I'm already married, so I dream of ordering one in a soft celadon shade with copper accents to wear on other special occasions.

Absolutely stunning Lord of the Rings style gown from Rivendell Bridal.

The gown in white, blue and silver from Rivendell Bridal.
Images from Rivendell Bridal

6. Two things you may not know about me are ---- animal rights advocate, firm believer in the value of world travel as part of schooling and of life-long continuing educational opportunities for all, and I design arcologies just for fun :) Whee - that's three! These are getting easier to answer!

9. What are your top two fun things to do after work ---- what is "after work"? lol! I'm always working :)

10. Name two things you would like to learn ---- only two??? There are lots of things on this list :) But this is my art and biz blog so I'll go with: using a sewing machine, making faux cupcakes, and advanced wire-wrapping techniques so I can make drop-dead gorgeous wire-wrapped jewelry.

12. What were the last two books that you read? ---- I don't get much time to read now that I'm a Mommy, unless it's Dr. Seuss :), and when I do, I have very high standards for book recommendations, so I'm going to list the last two I read that I would recommend: fiction: Oryx & Crake (Margaret Atwood) and non-fiction: China Road (Rob Gifford).

Market opens in less than two weeks, so I'm not sure I'll have time for another blog entry before then. But I will definitely be sharing some pics of opening day and my new updated, fabulous and fresh booth design after I get back!

Longest Catch Up Blog Post Ever

Hello everyone! Finally, that storm system moved on at the end of last week and the migraine is gone and my vision restored. Thank goodness! Thank you so much everyone for your kind words of care and support and encouragement. I cannot tell you how much your sweet comments and emails meant to me! This is such a wonderful community and I am grateful for my bloggy friends each and every day!

Now, it's time to get cracking and get caught up! I have over a hundred blogs to visit and way more email to take care of. Oh, and let's not forget Saturday Market that opens in two weeks. Currently I will be standing there in front of an empty table, so it's time for this artist to get to work! Every power workshop session starts with this:There was an almond twist pastry too, but that didn't last long enough to photograph, but I assure you, it was delicious and a necessary part of kick-starting the day :) And you fellow Starbucks addicts might note the new color/labeling. Memo to Starbucks: if your sales figures are falling during these tight economic times, investing money on new retro labeling will not inspire me to buy more coffee - try new lower prices - *that* will get my attention.

Now suitable fueled, the workshop is churning with flower pin production:

Bird tile production: (Note: I just finished these at dawn, but the glaze on them needs about 1-2 weeks to cure after drying to get that old-fashioned vintage look.)

All this jewelry and pretty accessories, but I need some catchy display ideas too. How about vintage labels???? Perfect!! This is what you can do with 10 minutes at a high-quality color xerox machine and an hour of brain surgeon level hand-eye coordination cutting. They are looking good!!

Let's celebrate that I can work again! These are my new bird nest hair pins. How fine they look on those vintage labels! I will add one of these to any order placed starting now until they are gone. I have eight two zero left -- all the nest hair pins are gone now -- thank you for your orders!!!

Look what was incoming at the Jeweled Elegance workshop - this cool ACEO made entirely of polymer clay from DivaDea! She hosts these really interesting and creative Etsy song contests. I wasn't sure I had the concept down, but gave a guess and I won! Take a look at her site if you want a unique creative challenge.

Now, back to the grindstone! :)

In the Country of the Blind

My little boys and I had a wonderful Spring Break! They spent almost the entire time in the wetlands behind our house building a fort, inspired of course by "The Dangerous Book for Boys". They even put a floor in it made of leftover stone pavers from a neighbor's patio project, tied sticks together to build walls and a roof and then they.... THATCHED THE ROOF with bundled grass! How cool is that?!! They also built a matching bridge out of scrap wood and stones over the small creek. And this tale would be soooo much better with pictures, but I didn't take any while they were constructing and a nasty storm moved in this week and blew away or submerged much of it. They are troopers though and want to rebuild when it gets sunny again! The three of us also played gourmet chef and cooked these Orange Berry Muffins from Eat Me, Delicious! Yummy!! She has these Earl Grey White Chocolate Muffins I'm dying to try next.
I always get migraines here in the Spring from the rapidly cycling pressure systems. But for the past six days, I have had a massive one centered on my right eye. The pain was bad, but worse, it messed with my vision and I lost a lot of vision in my right eye. I couldn't read, or even watch tv, and focusing on anything led to extreme pain. And of course, all bright lights and loud sounds are bad things when you have a migraine. The pain got so bad I was nauseous and vomiting, but yesterday afternoon some of the pressure and pain finally eased and I am able to see again. Husband has scheduled an eye appointment for me since I am so worried about my vision. He also bought me my favorite drink to consume when I am ill, and something where I could just look at pretty pictures and didn't need to read at all. How sweet is that?!! I have the best husband!!
I love Kombucha when I am feeling poorly, but it is definitely an acquired taste! This is my new favorite flavor - "Guava Goddess". And it's pink! The new Somerset Life is just gorgeous! There are so many people featured in there that I know and congrats to you all! But it made me cry too, because I can't craft jewelry right now without my vision and I can't even make goods for my Saturday Market opening in a few weeks, let alone continue to try to make things in the hope of publication. But I am very happy that I can read again, even if it's still blurry. I'm waaaay behind in correspondence and reading blogs, so my Costco sized bottle of aspirin and I will be trying to catch up here, but it's going to be slow going. I managed a few hours online last night, (yeah!!), but I have a long way to go ~~ please bear with me :)

Anyway, that was just a quick note to let you all know what's going on, and that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth :) I'll leave you with this beautiful mural from Neuschwanstein Castle of a woman reading the tale of Tristan and Isolde. I always took reading and my vision for granted, but you never realize how much you depend on your sight until something like this happens.

Spring Arrives in Style

Spring is here! Blue skies, singing birds, blossoms and flowers bursting out everywhere ... it is just beautiful!

Just yesterday, my little 1st grader came in from playing outdoors grinning happily from ear to ear and holding out this bunch of Spring daffodils. "These are for you, Mommy!! Happy Spring!" He was so cute and sweet and it was such a beautiful, thoughtful gesture. We made a big show of putting them in water on the kitchen table. (Yes, I am a Japanese pottery addict). I was, however, a little mortified, because you see... I have never, ever planted daffodils on our property. That means that someone, somewhere in the neighborhood is now missing three daffodils.No illicit flower activities for me, but I have been gathering rushes of pussy willow branches - which I just love to decorate with. A container of dried branches adds instant visual height and a certain sculptural element to any room. If you have cherry trees, a vase of cut flowering cherry branches is a great idea too.
And what a lovely backdrop they make for a glamour shot of one of my Bird's Nest Necklace Deluxe necklaces. These have driven me absolutely batty trying to photograph them, but I finally achieved some decent pictures and they are up on the website. Each one turns out so unique that I decided to list each one separately so you can choose your favorite.
And if you've checked out my etsy site lately, you will see a fresh crop of pink hand crocheted embellished brooches. These are so festive for Spring and look just gorgeous pinned to a shirt, hat, purse or blouse! And each one is one of a kind, so you'll have a true original.

More exciting Jeweled Elegance news: The very sweet and talented Nyx Enchantments is doing a running blog article on etsy sellers and was so kind as to feature me! If you've ever wanted to know more about the inspirations behind Jeweled Elegance, check it out here.

This week is the start of Spring Break for us, so my little guys and I will be busy enjoying the nice weather, going on field trips, working in the garden, and baking yummy goodies. We are not so fortunate as to be able to go on vacation, but we have our copy of The Dangerous Book for Boys on hand (which they adore) and we are going to have some great boy adventures! I hope you all are having a happy Spring!

Easy Felt Ribbon Rose Pin Tutorial

Hi everyone! It's time for my first tutorial! I only had six spots on my camera card, so it's a five step tutorial plus one beauty shot. Here's what your gorgeous felt ribbon rose pin will look like when it's done. Perfect for Spring!:
Step 1: Gather your supplies. A long strip of felt in the color you want your rose, a pin backing, and one or two leaves cut out of green felt. Also, a needle, and thread colored to match the felt.
Step 2: Fold the felt in half lengthwise and starting at one end, stitch a running stitch along the entire bottom edge.

Step 3: Pull the thread tight until the the felt curls into itself and makes a rose.

Step 4: Tack the rose layers together at the back and then, holding the leaves and pin in the exact spot you want them, stitch the leaves and pin to the rose.

Step 5: Finish with a jeweled center stitched or glued to the center. I used a pearl center (my favorite type of center), but try crystals, gemstones, a felt ball or anything else you can think of. And voila! You have a beautiful rose pin!

Easy Felt Ribbon Rose Pin tutorial copyright Jeweled Elegance LLC

If you make one of these, please let me know, I'd love to see yours! Now... I'm off to Michaels to buy more felt. I'm hoping to have 20 of these in different colors finished for the start of Saturday Market, but with the weather so nice now, it's hard to stay inside and work :) I wasn't planning on selling these online, but if anyone wants a few, just let me know!

**Update: I've entered my tutorial in the Easter Parade & Giveaway at Quill Cottage. Go visit and have fun looking through all the beautiful Easter/Spring links!

Have a great week & a Happy Easter!

If It's Rare, If It's Exclusive ..... Does it Taste Sweeter?

You know those lists of 1001 things to do before you die? Well, mine just gained a new one: go to a Laduree store in France (a luxury cakes and pastries company based in Paris) and gaze at the mouthwatering goodies until I choose just a few and walk out with a divinely packaged piece of culinary heaven.

Here's some of their fantastic store window displays. It shows their world famous macaroons and their superb packaging. Anything in boxes that pretty would taste good before you even opened the box.

One of their mouthwatering desserts.
Another dessert. Yum!
And if you stay to indulge at the store, sitting down to drink gourmet coffee and eat bakery sweets, you can eat inside here! How posh is this!?

All Laduree images from roboppy at Flickr

Now my chances of getting to France are less than 1% and horrors - it looks like they do not ship product. You can only buy AT the store. So ... on the list it goes and tonight I will dream of Laduree. And what sweet dreams they will be :)

And my bloggy friend Natalea, from Kandeland has honored me with The Angelic Angel Award!! Thank you so much Natalea! Now, I am supposed to nominate 5 bloggers that inspire me daily, but honestly ... look at my blogroll on the right ....WAY more than 5. And each and every one inspires me in art, in artistic vision, in life, in spirit, in cooking or in just the special way they view the world. So, I give this award to all of them!

Mail Love!

I am so happy to be a participant in the Speckled Egg nest swap! I strayed out of my normal artistic territory and did my first shabby chic piece. I think it turned out just darling! Love the expression on the little bird and all the egg-laden branches woven into the nest.
My swap partner for the nest swap was Karla! Here is the queenly bejeweled bird she sent me. Isn't she beautiful perched in her teacup "nest"? And surrounding the base is the stunning "amour" banner I won from Bristol at Honey Bend. This is SO gorgeous and the photo doesn't do it justice at all. Even the back is completely and meticulously finished with a great toile. Thank you Karla and Bristol!
What do you know? I won something in the One World One Heart Giveaway! I won this delicate beaded heart pin from Bev at Big Black Dog Studio. This is so lovely and I have already worn it several times around town, receiving many compliments on it. I love how it has the little flower embellishment too - perfect for spring!

Thank you to everyone who sent good luck wishes to banish my weird steak of bad luck - looks like it worked! The whole family decided to get out of town and go to the coast last week just to get away from it all, and nothing horrible has happened since we got back (knock on wood!). I hope to have some pictures of our trip to share soon. It was our youngest's first time seeing the ocean and it was just so enchanting to see it through his eyes. And .. nothing makes you feel better than a little retail therapy. Japanese crackers, an awesome new Japanese craft book (these are a great source of innovative and fresh craft trends - even if you can't read them), and dreamy yarn that looks like 18thc. French ball gowns -- ahh! Feeling better!!
I even squeaked in a little studio time after getting back from the coast to make several sets of dreamy Italian paper magnets (at Etsy). LOVE this paper - it's making my run-of-the-mill fridge look very elegant and upscale :) I love displaying artwork made by my two little guys, so our fridge is usually covered in construction paper artistic masterpieces. It takes a strong magnet to cope with all that art, but there's no reason strength and beauty can't go together, right? :)