End of the year..

 I've been doing some enameling this week and working on some ideas for next year. These feathers will be the start to a really large statement necklace.

The Brooch-a-day challenge is coming to its end soon, yay! It's always tough doing a 365 challenge but  I always come away with lots of new ideas. Here's a link to all the Brooch a Day(BAD) pieces so far.

Squashblossom complete!

The squashblossom came out gorgeous and has found a new owner. Here's a shot of the finished piece and an awesome pic of it in the shade showing off the reflective quality of the street sign skulls!! How cool is that?

progress on squashblossom

Coming along nicely on the squashblossom necklace. I will be finishing up the beads and chain this evening and then getting all the parts strung together tomorrow night. Cannot wait! 

Preparing for the Plaza Art fair

I've been busy trying to build up some inventory for a big art fair that is closing upon me in a couple of weeks. I've hit the panic stage! This is part of my big showpiece, although I've already decided it will have to be smaller than I originally anticipated since time is running away. I'd always wanted to try my hand at making sterling beads and oh my goodness, I love it!

These little beads just feel so good in your hand, they have a wonderful weight to them. I am definitely going to make myself a choker of them after the art fair.

Here's a small portion of the squashblossom. It's gonna be scary calculating the cost of silver going into this but I think it's going to be a beautiful piece in the end.

Favorite recipes

For this month's Etsy Metal blog Carnival we are sharing our fav recipes. This recipe for Spicy Peanut sauce with brown rice noodles and veggies and veggies has become my absolute favorite dinner to make this year. You can change up the veggies each time you make it and it's always yummy!! i will just give you the link to naturally Ella's blog where i've been getting most of my recipes this year, I highly recommend her blog!

Naturally Ella


Check out some other fav recipes from my etsy metal teammates here:

1.Silentgoddess: http://silentgoddess.blogspot.com  
2. KSkilesJewelry http://www.kaskiles.com/
3. Peculiar Forest: http://peculiarforest.blogspot.fr/
4. Laura Jane Bouton http://laurajanebouton.blogspot.it/
5. Abella Blue http://www.abellablue.com/blog

Enameling class

Last weekend I took a torch fired enameling class with Anne Havel. I haven't taken any jewelry classes since I was in college, it was so much fun. I really should start using my vacation time from work to travel and take a few.

This is one of Anne's pieces. Such great texture and pattern within this brooch/pendant.

Anne supplied us with enamels in the color palette that she likes to work with. I think they worked well with my "piratey" theme thatI did on these 3 pieces. I actually managed to get one of the pieces set over the weekend as well!

Saturday morning

Aah, Saturday morning. I like having a little quiet time to myself to have that first cup of coffee and a little snuggle with my Sugar cat.

I'm planning on spending the day in the studio and doing some enameling. I've been wearing a scalloped frame necklace that I made a few months back so would like to make a couple more and maybe some matching earrings. I really need to give the studio a good cleaning/organizing so part of the day may be that. I keep thinking of all the little tasks that could be done down there like bolting a few heavy items to the workbench tops, unsticking a window so that I can get some fresh air!

This could easily turn into a full day of cleaning down there which would probably make me be more efficient in the long run so I guess that would be ok.

What are your plans for this Saturday?

Etsy Metal Blog Carnival- What's up this summer?

Every month our Etsy Metal group posts a question for us to blog about. This month is "Summer, what's your plans?". 

Usually my husband and I are planning a trip to NY but we decided to hold off on any big trips this year and save some money. So, instead we've been doing lots of yard work. Gardening really isn't our thing but last year I kinda got bit by the gardening bug! We are not fans of mowing either so if we can plant something to cover up more yard we are all for it. Last weekend we bought 4 different types of ground cover and planted down the length of one side of the house, whew! That was quite the undertaking.

Yesterday we planted a couple of San Marzano tomato plants. We got hooked on these tomatoes earlier this year, if you haven't tried them add it to your list of things to try. They make the best tomato soup and sauce!

I will also be busy making jewelry and getting ready for an art fair in September. Will be taking a few days off from the day job each month in order to get things made. That's really the only way I am able to produce any amount of work. Oh! I'm also going to be taking a three day enameling class this month which Im super excited for.

So, just hanging around the house in the yard and in my studio are my summer plans. What's yours?


Check out what some of my other teammates are doing this summer on their blogs:

 Laura Jane Bouton http://laurajanebouton.blogspot.it/
 Lou Hunter http://peculiarforest.blogspot.ch/
 Rebecca Bogan: http://adobesol.wordpress.com
 Andrea Ring: http://amuckdesign.blogspot.com
 Anne Walker: http://creativeinclinations.blogspot.com/
 Abella Blue: http://abellablue.com/blog

Bad

Don't be bad! I have a feeling you'll be seeing a few more of these Little People brooches.

A few brooches from this week

I've been hanging on to a pretty tin box with Asian graphics for awhile now. I figured I would use it for some new spring designs so I've also been collecting some beads and cabochons to go with it. This week I cut into it and an so loving the results. Hopefully I can get some earrings made this weekend to match these pieces.

Brooches and inspiration

Well, I've been horrible about posting my daily brooches so I'll just put a link here to the Flickr set so you can catch up! http://www.flickr.com/photos/amuckdesign/sets/72157632406130117/

I spent my lunch hour in our library at work today sketching and when I was getting ready to leave this title caught my eye. I checked it out for the day and took it back to my cubicle to peruse. I like what I've read so far. I especially like a quote where Lilla says "create what you would would buy". I always try to keep that in mind but it certainly can get difficult at times.

Brooches 34-38

Brooches 29-33

Brooches 24-28

Brooches 20-23

Brooches 15-19

Brooches 10-14

Brooches 4-9