Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Valentines Day Fortune Cookies

I had a great time at my friend Allison's house yesterday for our monthly craft day get together. We of course drank mimosas and ate way too much yummy food. I did get a bunch of Valentine jewelry pieces polished and ready to put together.  Thank goodness Allison helped me or I would have never finished.  I'll post the finished pieces when I get everything put together.  I made these really cute tiny hearts and have a few ideas about what I'd like to create with them.  Tomorrow is going to be work in the Studio day, can't wait.

Allison worked on these adorable Valentines Day Fortune cookies for her daughter to give out to her classmates. They are red felt and will have a little Valentine message inside each cookie.


I think they turned out so cute! Lucky kids in her class :)

We are getting a wonderful snow storm right now. Already have a few inches on the ground, so school was already canceled today. We are supposed to get 5 to 8 more! How fun for the kids. I actually stole a few hours today to read my book. How great, coffee, reading and snow.

Enjoy your day! Thanks for stopping by. Stacie

Monday, January 24, 2011

Steelers are going to the Super Bowl!


What a great night! We had our neighbors over for the big game last night, food, drinks and of course a great football game. My husband and I were both born in Pittsburgh and coincidentally our neighbors are were born there too. I really enjoyed having friends over to share the joy of winning the game!  Even the dog sported his Steelers jersey.


Here we come Super Bowl XLV!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Girl & Boy Charms

How fun are these new charms? Little girl and little boy charms are now available in my Etsy shop. They make fun gifts for a friend, family member or yourself.  I think they would be really fun baby shower favors too.  Any other ideas?



Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Time to think...

As I mentioned before I am taking an on line course from Creative Thursday called In the fish bowl, life as an artist online.  So far it's been so fun meeting new artists on line and just feeling like you are not alone out there.  There is so much information out there that it can be so overwhelming.  But, it is also so fun learning all new ways to connect to other artists and promote your artwork online.

This week Marisa, the teacher of the class, gave us a few questions to ponder about where we are in our life as an artist.  One question that I thought was so great is What does success look like to you?  What an interesting idea. When I first thought of the question, I came up with pretty typical answers...I want to sell more jewelry, have my work known, etc.. Then, I thought more about the idea of success, I thought wait...success is so much more.

I sat down with my journal and here are some of my thoughts. 

Success to me is feeling like I am growing creatively and personally. It is having something in my life that allows me to let out all the emotions rolling around in my head. It is having the time to be creative and still have time to be with my children, giving them what they need and enjoying them. It is feeling like I am giving to others.

It's funny, when I think of success in those ways, I feel so much more content.  It's always amazing to me how you can look at something like success and think of it in so many different ways.  I am so looking forward to exploring thoughts and ideas like this with my new group of fellow fishies!

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderfully successful day! Stacie 

Sunday, January 16, 2011

First Treasury on Etsy

I finally created my first Treasury on Etsy. It was a bit of a learning curve. First, I worked on half of it thought I just saved it to finish later, but apparently I published it half done! Then I emailed all the artist's and sent them a link to their own artwork instead of my Treasury. Even with my screw ups, I really did enjoy it.  Hope you do too!

I Heart U

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

No more lonely hearts!

Had a great day in the studio today.  My friends Allison and Rene came over to keep me company.  The snow started and the jewelry was created!
Silver beads and Rubies

Rubies and silver

Swarovski crystals and silver

Freshwater pearls, garnets and silver

Cream and graphite beads and silver

Cream and graphite beads and silver

Dark red delica seed beads and silver
I really enjoyed the day! Next it's time to create more hearts so I can have more fun!  Hoping for the snow to continue and school to be canceled tomorrow!  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Lonely Hearts

So many lonely hearts! I will be working in my studio tomorrow to design jewelry from these lonely hearts....so they won't be alone anymore. 
Stop back tomorrow to see what becomes of the lonely hearts club!  See you then. Stacie

Saturday, January 8, 2011

It's beginning to look a lot like Valentines Day!

Started working on one of my favorite jewelry holidays, Valentines Day. Just had to share this little crystal heart charm! 
Stay tuned for more hearts to appear. Have a wonderful weekend. Stacie

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Goal setting for the new year.


"Always remember, your focus determines your reality."
George Lucas

First off, I have to say that I am very excited right now...I'm actually sitting in Panera drinking a cup of coffee typing my blog! Oh the joy of finally having my own laptop!

With the new year like everyone else I have been thinking hard about what I'd like to accomplish this year and what new goals I will set.  While shopping at the Grocery Store the other day, I saw the new Oprah magazine on the stand. I don't usually pick this magazine up, but one of the cover stories caught my eye. The title was "What's Your Next Chapter?"  Funny enough, that article did nothing for me...all about Oprah and her new network.  But, another article under the "May We Help You?" section entitled "Words to the Wise" by Martha Beck really got me thinking.  First off I find that this kind of thing seems to happen to me a lot, you are drawn to something for one idea and end up finding something totally different.

Back to the article, Martha Beck talks about a goal-setting strategy in a very different light. She suggests that you first state your goal in the traditional way, for example "I'd like to grow my business". Then she explains how you should envision yourself in the future with your goal already reached.  The third step is to come up with 3 adjectives that express how you would feel if your goal was reached, for example "proud, content, excited".  Now, this is the step that I really like. Focus on aspects of your present life that make you feel like the adjectives.  In our example "proud, content, excited".  I can look at my Jewelry studio with all my work and the inspirational artwork of others and feel that content and excited feeling.  You get an instant lift and all kind of things start to happen.  Once you recognize areas in your life that you either already have those feelings or can find them, your goal seems more obtainable.  Try it and let me know what you think.  To read the whole article pick up the January issue of O Magazine.

Now for my goals this year:

1. I want to live my days in a way that is fulfilling. Not just doing things because I can. Some days, I think "I have an hour left before the kids get home, I should do the bills". While this type of behavior gets things done, it ends up making me feel frazzled.  So, I am going to work on getting things done, but keeping in mind what I want my day to be like.

2. I also would like to give the gift of unconditional kindness to myself and to others. This year I am going to keep that thought in my present mind.

3. I would love to grow my online jewelry business. I really enjoyed learning more about the online world last year and meeting new friends. I am taking a step in the right direction to achieve this goal next week by taking an online class called "In the Fish Bowl. Life as an Artist. Online". The class still has openings if you are interested and would like more information you can find it on the Creative Thursday blog

3. And of course, I would like to loss that holiday weight and find my former more fit self!

Now, I have to think about 3 adjectives for each goal and go from there. I'd love to hear from you and what your goals are.  Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy your day! Stacie

Monday, January 3, 2011

Happy New Year!

Welcome to a new year! I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season with your friends and families.  We enjoyed the time together, but it went too fast! Hard to get back into the swing of things.  Instead of working on my bills and budgeting this morning, I kind of got lost on the vacation home rental website.  Just felt like a little more fun than the bills!

With the new year, I will be making a few changes to my blog.  First of all, I'm taking myself off a schedule.  Last year blogging was new to me, so I found that in order to get over my fears and inhibitions working on a schedule worked best for me.  I realized after taking time off over the holiday break that I missed blogging and don't think I need the schedule any longer.  So, I will be writing whenever something is new or exciting or I just feel like rambling on...shooting for 3 or 4 times a week. 

I will be continuing my Feature Artist Posts, but will be changing things up a little.  I will be writing an Artist of the Month post the first day of each new month starting February 1st. So stay tuned for more inspirational posts about other artists and their work.

Before the holiday break, my friends and I got together for a Christmas lunch and gift exchange.  We had a wonderful lunch and started off the season perfect.  I wanted to share the Paper Fabric boxes that I made to use for wrapping their jewelry presents.  I found this great idea in Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine.  One of my favorites.  I so look forward to getting each new issue.


You'll have to excuse my photos for a bit.  I am working with my new Photoshop program and haven't quite figured it out yet, but I decided the only way I'll ever learn is to not use my old photo editing software and just keep trying!  I bought a book called Classroom in a Book for Photoshop that seems like it will be helpful. Started it over break and worked my way through the first chapter! Learning how to master Photoshop is one of my goals for 2011.  I'll share some other goals with you later this week.  What are your goals for the year? If you have time, I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for stopping by! Stacie