03 June 2011

Lookit the pretty!!!!

I made a pretty!!!  With skulls!!!

It's a set, with earrings and a necklace (I may make a bracelet later, but I'm currently out of skulls.. sad...)


Both pieces

earrings

Close up of the necklace.


The skulls are TierraCast Black Finish Pewter Beads from Artbeads, and unlike a lot of the other skulls I seen around, they're top-drilled, which I much prefer.  


I just love this set, and even though I already have skull earrings that I love (Beautiful Death, and you can read about them in this post), I'm thinkin' I'm gonna keep this one.  But I'd be more than happy to make something else with these beauties! Just as soon as I get some more....


Thanks!

01 June 2011

Oh boy!!!!

I just got a Sneak Peak at some new Stampin' Up! products coming in the new 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog, and I cannot wait until July 1st to share them with you all!  It's going to be so, so, soooo fun!!!!!

In the meantime,



I can share with you the Retirement list!  Lots of wonderful new things are coming, so we have to make room for them!  Click here to check out the retiring StampsAccessories, and Definitely Decorative items that are going, going, (not quite yet) gone!

Contact me today to schedule your party!

31 May 2011

Wants and Desires

So, last week, I had the opportunity to go hear a good friend of mine, LaRita, speak at a conference (more on that later).  In the midst of her talk, she revealed that she is taking what I consider (and I'm pretty sure she does, too) to be a HUGE leap of faith and will not be coming back to the college this Fall, so that she can focus on a project near and dear to her heart (more on that later, too... when she gives me the go ahead that her website is up and running...) When she said it, I admit to being a bit scared for her.  Because, even though we're not full-time employees, we still have a bit of security in our classes.  But, I understand her need to focus.

After her presentation, we went to lunch and talked about her reasons for taking the semester off, which got me to thinking about what I want for my own future.  I mean, of course, there's the "win the lotto and live high on the hog" wishful thinking, but I'm realist enough to know that's not likely to happen (partly because I never buy lotto tickets... yeah, you see my point!)

So, what I want: I want to be comfortable.  Not rich (okay, I'll take rich if anyone wants to give it to me, but I'm not greedy!) And yes, I could probably go get myself an office-type job and achieve that for myself. But, I don't deal well with office jobs... So what I really want is a way to be creative and make decent money.  Part of the reason I went to see LaRita speak is so that she could show me another aspect to my experience that I can put to work for myself--corporate training. After all, I am a Teacher... So that's one of my summer projects.

Now, what about desires?  To me, a desire is stronger than a mere want, and I spent this weekend pondering what my desires for my future are.  And really, I want to always be creative.  I want to always have that creative outlet, and in an ideal world, I want to profit from my creativity (this is one of the reasons I love teaching...) But, LaRita brought to my attention that I not only can teach pretty much any field within communications (okay, I might need to do some research), but also several crafty-type subjects, and that there are places where that sort of class are not only popular, but in some cases in demand.  So that's my another of my summer projects...

And finally, since my hectic-beyond-busy Spring session is over, I'm finally able to focus once again on my jewelry making, and another sumer (and beyond) project that I really want to make work for me: Stampin' Up!  I became a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator last November, and then the session from hell started (I'm not exaggerating--I've talked to several other professors, an they all agree--Spring 2011 was not a pleasant session...) So this summer, I'm going to try really hard to build my Stampin' Up! business, starting with a Stamp Camp on June 18th at my place.  Hopefully, that will get me a few bookings, and I can get this show on the road.

So, that's my summer plan... I'll keep you posted!

06 April 2011

Yay for Artfire Collections!

So, I've been a bit out of the loop crafty-wise lately, although I've actually been making a lot of stuff.  I participated in Brave Girl Soul Restoration (I'm actually enrolled in that again now, since I wasn't able to finish) and I'm taking Christy Tomlinson's She Art Workshop (she's so cool). So, I've been playing with stuff, but its more in the toddling-around-from-thing-to-thing manner than in the concerted let's-really-go-for-it manner....  But at the moment, it's working for me. 

Of course, I've also been frantically grading papers and trying to stay on top of all the school stuff, while also reading and re-reading tons of Brit Lit texts, and creating PowerPoints and lectures and stuff for them. THAT's been fun! But there's really been no jewelry making this year, because, you know, 8 classes!!  (What was I thinkin'...)

So it was really nice when I saw I'd been included in an Artfire Collection put together by Intentional Stones. Now I can't wait to get back to jewelry making!  Eventually.... (thank goodness summer starts soon... fewer classes!!)

So take a look! Some great pieces!!



Thanks for reading!