Question of the Week...

To

 "Alice"

 or

NOT TO "ALICE"

We say...

Please, by all means:

"YES to ALICE!"

The Thing About Spring...

Shortly after moving to Minneola Jeff and I had a conversation about living in the "country" and how we never would have seen ourselves living where we are today. Now please do not mis-understand me, we do not live on a farm, not in the least bit, but unlike most of our co-workers we are surrounded by farm land and animals.

(What do you think of when you hear Orlando, Florida?)

We do live in a "Community", not gated but a community non-the-less. Along with living in a suburb we live on a hill, again, not what you think of when you think of Florida. So we have a dilemma, living about 40 miles outside downtown Orlando we do get more land than others but it is on a 20 degree grade. Other than our pool area we really do not have much usable land to speak of so we make the best with what we've got and yesterday spring truly came to our little domain.

We have created a little sanctuary within our little screen area including a lime tree, palms, (also know as Houdini's tree) orchids and a new tomato plant. We worked for a good three hours on cleaning up our little area and the rains came.

Today we are ready for Spring...

Of course Spring also means showers which translates to time in the studio:

Oh, how I love this season!

Moving Right Along

It feels good to finally have some work underway.

With the "Deland Outdoor Art Festival" at the end of the week, I'm feeling a bit pressured. This is the second time I am doing this festival, last year (my first event...and it was judged no less!) I won "Honorable Mention", that was so exciting!

I have had to sit out of the Farmers Market for the past couple of Sundays and I miss seeing my "regular" folks but it has been good to be able to dedicate some uninterrupted time in the studio.

Here is a peek at some of my new pieces that will be listed tomorrow:

Fall
(Although it is Spring.)

Imperial Bracelet

Porcelain Rain

Sunset Ring

All of these will be listed in the Silver Lining shop tomorrow and I hope to have a few more that will be listed in the Herding Cats shop as well!

Happy Wednesday!

The phone rang and I considered (only for a moment) answering it, it's still pretty dark and it's the first day in almost 2 weeks I don't "need" to get up... was all I thought before I fell back to sleep, a black cat curled up next to me.

He didn't want to move either.

With two Loads of laundry working their way throught the process and another piece of copper in the "bath". I have an idea for a pair of earrings that I just can't wait to complete.
I am headed to the studio.

I decided last night that I would leave the paisley piece for Jeff to finish, it was his concept and he did all the work (while watching Grand Torino) last night.

He is as excited about this as I am!

Where I've been and Where I'm Headed.

This blog thing is not quite going the way I thought but I'm way too German to give up. (My dad and I use the word "stubborn" and "German" interchangeably.)

'Tis the season at my FTG (Full Time Gig), we do about half our annual business in the first quarter of the year and this year is no different.

My time is carefully divided up between FTG, Evening classes at the Art Center and Gem Society, Art Festivals and my beloved Farmers Market. Both the Farmers Market and my recent Art Festivals have brought me a bounty of custom work which I absolutely love doing.

Tony, a fabulous gentleman came into my booth at the Winery a couple of weeks ago and declared "Why doesn't any one have any men's jewelry?"

I looked him straight in the eye and said "Well sir, I do have Cuff links!"

That did not do it for him, he saw my huge ring and said. "I want a ring like that!" I promptly cleared off a section of my table, presented him with my stone collection and asked him to select a stone. Afterwards I measured him and I created the most beautiful size 12 HUGE pink Imperial Jasper ring you have ever seen!

Now here is where I disappoint, I neglected to photograph it! Lesson learned!

Tony are you out there?

Never fear, here are some other custom projects that have been lighting my path!

Linda's Gift (Still awaiting earrings)

Marilyn's Choice (Almost done!)

So ends the "Where I (we ) Have Been..."

On to "Where We Are Going..."

This past weekend Jeff and I had one day off together and we began our Etching experiments. Our first test came out okay...and produced a small pendant:

...but tonight we are on to bigger and better things...

I can't wait until this beauty is cleaned up!

I have an entire day in the studio tomorrow which will include some kitchen time for more etching...

I can guarantee that!

Have a great night!