Let it Fly

Yo-Yo mania

Seems that Yo-Yo's are gathering steam as a the favorite activity in my son's school this month. I hear daily reports about "walking the dog" , "around the world" and "sleepers".  Check out the "The Yo-Yo Guy"  for more details on what all these things mean.

Can't tell you how happy it makes me when kids find so much joy in something that doesn't require a screen .

Headed to New York City this weekend with my daughter and some friends and am charging the camera batteries right now. Hoping to get you interesting photos to look at next week...

Wishing you a weekend full of simple joys and old fashioned games :)

Special Order Mask

Hey, how are you?  We had a fun Halloween weekend and are now trying to walk by the bags of candy without eating something chocolate every time (at least that's what I'm doing. And not succeeding I might add:)

There was one more special order mask to finish and I thought I'd swing by and show you what we came up with. The special order request went something like this: "orange and pink with a floral theme and glitter." 

Voila!

 

Since mask wearing season is coming to an end, I'll be moving on to other projects and getting back in the studio to finish many projects that are half-way to completion. 

I hope your weekend was fun!

back soon...

By the Sea

My husband and I spent the weekend in Newport, Rhode Island. It was a gray and rainy day most of Saturday but it worked very well for picture taking! Here are a few things that caught my eye.....

 

Colorful clay shingles are cool :)

 

 

I love how trees grow by the windy sea....

 

 

On one little stretch of land by the waterside were these gorgeous stones . No sand at all. All stones of green, purple, gray and rose. They were so beautiful, I couldn't stop looking at them.

 

and the occasional shell or translucent, paper thin pieces of seaweed.....

 

An old graveyard with headstones covered in some type of moss. (trying a little creative photography here ;)

 

And succulents purposefully planted in the little crevices of a very large collection of boulders on a cliff. Again, the greens and roses kept my attention. The colors all day were so vivid against the gray skies. 

Something to be said for rainy days :)  Hope your days are full of color and surprises.....

In my head and heart

colors and patterns

dear, sweet family and friends

words and many thoughts about writing

gratefulness for my pets :)

admiration for people like this

plans to build a tiny castle made of clay

reminders of the many struggles that exist in the world

designs for pumpkin carving

desire to be who I am, always and without compromise

compassion and understanding for the those trying to do the same

Hope your week is off to a good start...here's wishing you sweet thoughts :)

SWIM breast cancer ornament

It's getting to be that time of year again! Each year for the past eight years I have gotten together with my Aunt Chris to create a new design for the SWIM Across the Sound holiday ornament. My aunt is a breast cancer survivor and she and my Uncle George came up with the idea of a holiday ornament to raise money to support patients and families dealing with breast cancer and the hardships it can bring during treatment. My aunt was cared for at St. Vincent's Hospital in Bridgeport CT. , and all proceeds from the sale of these ornaments go to the SWIM Across the Sound Foundation to help make the road smoother for breast cancer patients and their families.

I usually post a picture of the ornament a bit closer to the holidays but in honor of breast cancer awareness month I thought I'd show a sneak peek while it is still October. The photos are not even up on the SWIM website yet so you get the first look!

 

The wings on this lovely dove are frosted silver and the body is glossy, with the interlocking breast cancer symbol in pink, and the wing engraved with the SWIM Across the Sound logo and date. The packaging includes a white velvet bag and romance card with information about the SWIM's mission and about myself and the current design. All of this goes into a pink jewelry box with the SWIM logo on the front. If you have any interest in purchasing an ornament you can visit the SWIM website or contact me directly if you are local. 

Thanks for taking a look :)

Halloween Masks

I can't believe Halloween is less than two weeks away!  We've been coming up with ideas around here for homemade costumes and it always reminds me of how my siblings and I put together homemade costumes every year with help from my parents. It seemed like the "hobo" and "gypsy" persona were in heavy rotation ;) Lots of mismatched colorful clothes, big shoes, and of course jewelry and make-up for the gypsy. I'm pretty sure the only reason my sister and I wanted to be the gypsy was to wear make-up and my mothers heels... 

In our house this year we have one child who will be a green lollipop and another who is thinking about it so hard that it looks like we will be doing the mad dash for materials two days before Halloween ;) No matter. Creating is the best part and for a long time Halloween was the only time I would go crazy with ideas and materials. It was like having permission to create with abandon because there was a reason. In the last few years I've decided that wanting to create something is enough of a reason to begin, and actually the most important one! 

Speaking of Halloween celebrations and creating, my artist pal Kyla and I received several special orders for masks after our success with selling our work at the Harvest Fair this year.  I thought I'd show you what we came up with for a customer request for a Samurai Warrior and a Geisha.....

 

Hours filled with building , painting and embellishing and here we are on the other side, ready for delivery :) Such a satisfying process.

Hope you are having fun with your Halloween creations!

The importance of the arts

Good morning out there folks :) For quite a few years now (perhaps my entire life) I have been wondering if other people feel as passionately about an education in the arts as I do.  Education in the sense of being exposed to music and the fine arts, creative thinking, and the active use of the imagination to bring an idea from the mind to the hands and then into reality, not necessarily a formal, school acquired arts degree. The ability to think creatively and not only imagine a solution to any problem but to take that idea and turn it into a realistic pathway, an answer to the question, is a tremendous gift and tool that can be applied to all parts of life.

What do you think about all this idea? Can you see how this type of living and learning could impact your life? or has it already and you want to share your thoughts? I'd love to get a conversation going on this topic....

 I used to think that being an artist was just part of me but have realized that it is who I am. Everything that I do incorporates a creative way of thinking. I never really see things in black and white. There are so many potential solutions or outcomes that pop up in my brain when faced with  a dilemma of some kind.

The following paragraph sums it up beautifully and was found here. 

**Always among the highest expression of every culture, the arts teach us much about every historical period through its literature, visual arts, music, dance, and drama. Today it is recognized that to be truly well educated one must not only learn to appreciate the arts, but must have rich opportunities to actively participate in creative work. The arts are languages that most people speak, cutting through individual differences in culture, educational background, and ability. They can bring every subject to life and turn abstractions into concrete reality. Learning through the arts often results in greater academic achievement and higher test scores. **

If you enjoyed reading that, head over to this website for a great list of articles about t the arts and their effect on us and our educational process. Great reading for a rainy day.......which it happens to be in my neck of the woods 

Hope you are well and happy and enjoying your creating :)

Displaying your work

Good Morning :) Preparations for the fair had me thinking about display and how to make our creations look their best. I found a boatload of great ideas from some very creative people on Flickr and thought I'd share a few. Display can be such a great tool in selling your work and attracting attention and these people each have a great idea I wanted to highlight....

Sherrys Shards uses a peg board set-up to hang lots of items at once and to bring products up off the tables to stand right in the customers line of vision. This also helps to attract customers from a distance because it's easier to see work from farther away.

The Jewelry Hutch used an old cabinet door to attach hooks for displaying earrings! This creates a large surface to hold many pairs of earrings at once and makes use of something she already had with very little money invested.

Lonesome Road Studios' display caught my eye for two reasons. The bright colored flower garland attracts attention right away and brings people closer to the booth and the cowgirl 1/2 mannequin draws people in because she has a friendly and welcoming face. You don't often see head forms with faces on them and I think if it's done well it can help create a friendly presence and help people to imagine what the jewelry might look like when worn.

We had a few ideas of our own for the weekend and with a little trial and error it all came together nicely. We even ended up with sunny skies!

Hope your week is going well.....back soon :)

Mascot

Have I introduced you to Billy Bob ? We created this character with the idea that he would be a friendly monster to go with our Theater/Halloween themed table at the fair. He held a bowl of candy on his lap and of course had the broken leg to go with our "Break a Leg Productions " booth name. 

 

 

I think he had just the right combination of creepy and sweet to attract people to the booth and leave them wondering about how he was made, what he was and what else was to be seen in our pile of creations! The free candy helped too :)

Two of the biggest reminders I got from my first experience having a booth at a craft fair  was that work begets work and in order for me to stay on track and feel inspired, I need to create every single day and I also need to stop thinking so much and act more.

Onward!

Masks and wands and eyeballs, oh my!

Hey, how are you? As promised, here are photos of some of the handmade products we created for the Harvest Fair. 

Masks and matching horns~

 

Magic Fairy Wands~

 

Eyeball necklaces~

 

More Masks~

 

and of course.........as always....... the shadow

 

I realized after looking at my photos that I don't really have photos of our whole display set-up. I was trying to sneak pictures in between sales so I guess that's a good problem to have;)

 Anyway, we were able to use two 6ft. tables and one 4ft. with great success. We used almost all of our packing boxes for display by stacking them in different arrangements and covering them with black and white fabrics. Of course you saw the styro-foam heads for holding the masks and horns and we used push pins to secure the necklaces to the sides of the boxes once they were stacked. It all worked out quite well and got our products up off the tables and more securely in the view of customers.

 I hope you are enjoying your work and feeling inspired!