lovely swarovski!

Since I am picky and our holiday season was particularly busy with work and short on time, my husband gave me a gift certificate to a Richmond shop that carries a particularly large array of lovely and unusual Swarovski crystal pendants and beads. Slipping and sliding on the ice, I finally found time to make my way over for a long period of browsing earlier this week. 1/2 my certificate nabbed the haul shown above. It was so difficult to pick and choose as these are pieces for myself for a necklace full of stars and moons that will dangle from a dismantled set of beautiful crystal and sterling rosary beads found at an antique show last summer. Michael helped me choose the colors. The centerpiece is the lovely moon crystal, which is clear but for the frosted moon, and casts a spectacular rainbow from whatever set of colors it is set against. The stars were chosen by my husband in yellow and purple. The other loose beads I picked for the sheer rich colors, even though two of them don't really match the rest of the pieces. I'm still thinking about the composition of this one. Given the large center piece, it won't be easy to wear with everything but I am moving in a direction where I am liking some glitz and glamour with jewelry so it feels right just gazing at the lustrous colors and shimmering rainbows of these beauties. Another trip to this shop is coming up soon... I see star earrings, necklaces and so on coming to my etsy site soon when I get the chance!

I am not a super regular blogger under the best of circumstances. Life is what happens when you aren't blogging, and I have had alot of it lately. Other than a large order of etchings that went out last week, I have not made a single piece of jewelry other than for family for Christmas. Ideas abound but time does not. Given our up and down business life since the Great Recession, I have had to find work again. About a month ago, given my increasing interest in fabric art, I started working part time in a local quilting shop. This is a huge learning experience for me, and more work than I would have figured. There is so much to learn, so many manufacturers of fabrics, so many patterns and questions, it makes the head spin around and around and even after a month of working and asking many questions, I still mostly feel stupid at my job. Stupid, but definitely not uninspired. For I have a new love in my life, one that simmered for years but ignited recently... BATIKS! And oh, working in a quilting shop with row after row after row of blazing reds and oranges, cool blues and greens and batik patterns of tantalizing ingenuity, it is all I can do for it not to eat up every paycheck I receive. This, my boss informed me early on, is her evil plan for us all-- to pay her to work for her. :) So far I have been relatively good but it is soooooo hard! The pieced strips above are all batiks, the beginning stage of quilting and sewing up a new large carry all purse. I will post photos when it is completed but I am having so much fun working with these fabrics.

Beautiful pieced batiks close up! Quite obvious my favorite colors and I love to mix and match them with varied patterns, of which there are a million and one... *sigh*

The other news is our big snow storm and another one coming our way Friday. Here are our two buried cars the day after the storm. Note my car is not parked under the large pine tree that dropped a huge limb on the hood in December...

these little faces...

These faces, furry and otherwise, are the faces of those I love and they all rule my heart and my world. My posting has been silent for a while, as far as jewelry and creating goes. The reason is I am going through a time when I am needed at home, and needed in a new part time job that requires more learning and time than I figured on.

Priorities are at home. They need me and I need them and we are all going through a phase of refiguring things in our lives, where we want to be, what we want to do and how to get from here to there. In this transition, I increasingly find I am not interested in some of the same art that I used to be. Moving on, moving forward, is difficult. It's hard to let go of the past and the symbolism of many objects in our lives. Michael and I both are letting go of some aspects of our artistic lives that were once an integral part of our lives but after time and reflection, find that they were not realistic goals, or not really interesting to us other than in selling them to other people. We want to be true to ourselves while still making part of our living with art. This is not an easy task. Many artists put work out there that is really just cranked out, with little thought other than that it sold well in the past and will possibly sell well again. I am not interested in sell out, highly prolific art, which most of the time isn't art at all, but simple manufacture on an individual level.

Yes Mango has a deep love affair with our (I mean his...) motorcycle... I think we need to find him a kitty helmut and make it official on the road. =)

More etsy items are to come, soon as we get our redecorated apartment finished up.

A year ago today

A year ago today I was deliriously happy standing here on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy- handmade paper purchases in one hand, husband's hand in the other.

A year ago this week Michael took glorious photos of the Ponte Vecchio from the viewpoint of the Ufizzi museum.

Brunelleschi's Dome. We climbed the narrow stairway clear to the top at dusk. Certainly one of the world's most beautiful views....

One of those spectacular views... Firenze at dusk.

*sigh....* No matter the cost, it's best to live without regrets. Captured forever in my heart and memory, I'm so very glad we went...

Christmas 2009

Before we left for Christmas holidays, Richmond had the thrill and then the misery of more than a foot of snow. Here is the misery of it--- our newest car was the only car out of dozens that managed to have a tree fall on it. Fortunately enough snow fell prior to that the damage was minimal small dents and easily taken care of next week in the auto body shop.

Undeterred, we packed up and headed four hours northeast to visit my parents for Christmas eve, day and Boxing Day. Maggie and Lucy (looking a little off still..) are ready for their presents. As usual, they received a pile of new toys, chewies and treats!

Christmas Day. Lucy is not feeling very well. Rainy weather flared up her arthritis and she had an upset stomach. Nothing serious and she is fine now but I felt bad for her because she always loves Christmas and understands it (the opening presents part anyway!) better than any other dog I know.

My mom's lovely holiday shirt. She painted this design on it! Isn't it beautiful? I think she needs to start marketing them.

The view of the front room, Christmas morning. Mom and Dad cut a Charlie Brown tree from their property and set it up. I love it!

Some of my parent's ornaments. They decorate so beautifully every year. Old heirloom ornaments and figurines, lights and pine. I enjoy it all so much.

Christmas dinner at my parent's house with my folk's next door neighbor. My mom made a wonderful dinner of turkey, stuffing and all the trimmings, offset with vintage Christmas tablecloth, plates, and my grandmother's beautiful candelabra.

My husband started with a bad cold the day before we left, so I hurried to get things ready to go so we could get the germ factory out of their house. In between snoozes, Michael took this photo from the drive home on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. A lovely buttermilk sky...

Happy New Year everyone!

a little of this a little of that

Working on presents and such for Christmas. These earrings and accompanying bag went out yesterday. Maybe I'll list some similar on etsy one of these days but etsy isn't lighting my fire right now so I am concentrating on other things. These sterling hammered hoops and faceted turquoise drops are lightweight and rather sweet, every day earrings to wear.



The bag that went with it. I adore making these!

I heart my local quilt shops. Aren't these fabrics fabulous?? Not to mention the threads. My husband checked out my burgeoning supply of silk and cotton threads and declared I have quite enough in the shade of pink, green and blues of every hue.

In the evenings after my husband's work is done, we take time and drive around looking at lights. This is my favorite, probably because it is so very weird. It is a cement truck that has lights circling the body, all blinking so it looks like the mixer is turning and then more lights at the tail on the ground blinking so it appears as if lit cement is pouring on the ground. I love it! I even filmed it. Again, my husband shook his head and put the car into drive... This company does this every year and I look forward to it with great anticipation, making Michael drive way out to the west end of Glen Allen to see if the cement truck is out and lit yet. =)

More random photos. Recently we worked at a llama farm on a piano repair. I spent part of my time when I wasn't needed (which was most of the time), walking the farm. These guys were very interested in me and Lucy. They came running from every direction and watched us intently the whole time we were there. Who knew llamas were so social?

Finally, Mr. Mango sleeping on his new L.L. Bean fleece blanket for our king size bed. Of course we got the big bed for the animals. Pshaw! Did you think it was for me?

We are expecting a heap of snow tonight, not my favorite thing at all. I ran around like a nut earlier today refilling dog prescription, getting presents for the furry kids at Petco, browsing Barnes and Noble and hitting the dollar store for gift wrap and ten for a dollar candy. I made the mistake of walking nonchalantly into Trader Joe's for a few things. Bah! People in line to the back of the store, on all aisles. So I hit the free coffee stand, the free wine stand, the free nacho stand, and left. Then I hit the not free Starbucks and drove home. Happy weekend, everyone!

one new listing/Mango antics!

First things first-- a new etsy listing. all things work out hand stamped sterling silver pendant. This is one hefty pendant and would look lovely by itself on a chain or grouped with some other trinkets of your choosing, mix it up a little! Now available in my shop http://jenniferstumpf.etsy.com.

Now, moving on to other things. Isn't Mr. Mango a sweet orange boy? So quiet, so peaceful....

So deceptive!! Here he is on his little kitty perch. This is my husband's work space for a commissioned drawing that HAS to be completed by Christmas. Naturally, Mango has decided the only, only, only suitable object to scratch his little chinny chin chin is Michael's white charcoal pencil.

He's making his move! Come on-- give it to me!

Aaaaahhhh..... Success! That feels soooooooo gooooooood.....

Ah, the life of Mr. Mango. Fat kitty extraordinaire, we love him so!

blue bird bag

I am just having too much fun making these little bags... This little blue bird bag was completed last night and is in the mail today.

Such an infinite variety of colors, fabrics, dyes, threads, shapes.... I love it all.

This holds a pair of commissioned earrings but it is the perfect size for small eye glasses, cosmetics, pens, or a little bag to hold the odds and ends of your pocketbook. Should I sell them on etsy?