bird under sun/bird under stars

I've been working with copper and nifty blue patinas lately, after having purchased a lovely blue patina copper pendant necklace from the amazing Amanda Davie. I fell so in love with Amanda's beautiful creation, this my most favorite necklace of all my necklaces, that I asked her how on earth she did it. She told me, I got my ideas in order, set up my little chemical lab, shoved the cat out the door, put my pieces of worked copper inside, and then waited. and waited. and waited. After 1/2 a day and one full night, I eagerly opened up the container. And found the pendant that I so carefully constructed was black. Yes, it was black. I felt sick.... Not a lovely blue, not a glowing turquoise or even a faint green. Black. So, persevering creator that I am (read OCD at work...) I made another. Waited again. SAME RESULTS!! I'm totally puzzled by now. WTF?? I did everything right! But, it didn't look bad with the black as it worked into all the nooks and crannies, but I wanted blue. *sigh* So I tried an unorthodox method not highly recommended because of mess. And I waited again. Got up yesterday morning and dashed into our studio, kind of expecting the usual. But, no! It was bea-oooooo-tiful blue blue blue!! And here is what I created with it:

A double sided domed pendant with tinkling bell inside, secured with brass eyelets. Does anyone know how much I LOVE cold connections? Anyway, let me get a hold of myself. Isn't the blue lovely? A bird under the sun stamped on one side...

A bird under the crescent moon and star on the other. Paired with some gorgeous twinkling gemstones, an elegant little pewter bird from mamacita beadworks, a vintage brass clip, vintage brass chain and sterling clasp and voila! It is for sale right now on my etsy shop http://jenniferstumpf.etsy.com. Go take a look!

September 13 found me a birthday boy in my household. My husband turned 47 on Sunday, which called for special events all day long. Above, something we eat about twice a year, real peppercorn hickory smoked bacon, care of our neighborhood butcher shop. It was absolutely divine.

Morning, honey! Nice bed-head. Happy birthday! He wished for whole grain blueberry pancakes and real bacon with lots of syrup and butter. Coming right up... Yum. Good stuff.

We spent a good part of the day lounging. And eating, apparently. Here is the man himself on his big 47, looking a bit spiffier in front of a homemade roasted walnut and carrot cake with cream cheese and zest of lemon frosting. We took it over to our artist friend's house and shared, both so we could have a little socializing with friends and also so we wouldn't eat the whole cake ourselves. Two kinds of ice cream, hot fudge, strawberry sauce, fresh raspberries, whipped cream and coffee rounded out the binge. Oh, and Michael and I went to a Chinese buffet right before and ate three plates each, plus tackled one heck of an amazing sushi bar. By the time of this picture, I was seriously wishing for two things: an antacid and an elastic waistband.

Earlier in the day... a kiss from my girl Lucy. What a sweet dog she is. She turns 13 this month. And she loves carrot cake.

Last night we walked til we could almost drop and I made a huge pot of vegetable soup. Cooler air is coming, I can almost feel it. More blue pendants are also coming.