Things to be Thankful for.......

On facebook, the following message is floating around:

"In honor of Thanksgiving, a friend had this idea....I like it. Every day this month until Thanksgiving, think of one thing that you are thankful for and post it as your status."Today I am thankful for..." The longer you do it, the harder it gets! Now if you think you can do it then repost this message as your status to invite others to take the challenge, then post what YOU are thankful for today.... "

So I dutifully copied it and then posted how thankful I am that I"m not sick anymore. I hate being sick, course who likes it??

But I've been thinking about it all day at work now, what am I really thankful for?

What I am thankful for --if I really drill down to it, is the people in my life. My daughter, the single most important person in my life. My husband, the very close second, and partially responsible for the 1st.

My family... Mom and Dad who gave me life and a sense of humor. My sister Gretchen - who can drive me crazy, but would sunder the earth in halves for me if I asked. My brothers Kim, Kirk, and Kit. My Great Aunt Poss who will be 90 this year... the toughest old bird I've ever met!

Friends... Sue & Cathie from South Dakota, who have from time to time saved my sanity. Kelly who has shown so much courage and compassion despite having a crappy year. Tammy just for being who she is, one of the nicest people on earth. Angela, for being my newest friend. All my beady/jewelry friends, who I won't list because I'll forget someone (not because they are not important, but because my brain doesn't always work and I'm doing this on my lunch break) Friends at work, who make the workday that more pleasant by the cheery hello in the morning and the helping hand on tough orders.

I really seriously could go on, but the point is that people in your life make your world go round. I have heard people quote the famous line from Jean-Paul Sartre, "Hell is other people" I'm not sure I would say "heaven is other people" but life on earth sure would suck without them.

Earrings to go with the bracelet....

These earrings go with the bracelet from my last post. I'm hoping to have pictures soon of some of the Christmas items I"m working on... My first November show is Saturday, so I've been working as hard as one of Santa's Elf!

OK, it's not all Pendants....

I've been working on bracelets also.... and Christmas items, but I'll show those later! This is a "charm" style bracelet made with sterling silver wire formed into "s" shaped links ( I used 18GA) then joined by my special split rings.. it's hard to see in the picture but I make little spirals on the ends instead of just cutting them. they keep things from sliding off and they look great to boot! The charms are all different styles using fancy jasper stone beads. I made matching earrings, I'll post this tonight. Enjoy!

November shows are coming up... I'm making pendants!

WOW! I cannot believe October is almost over! I've got 3 shows lined up for November, and possibly 1 more, so I am making Christmas goodies, and working on Pendants for the booth. The top pendant is sterling silver, crystals and white pearls. The bottom pendant is sterling silver and a polished piece of agate. More pictures coming all weekend!

Grand Opening of the Gallery & Serendipity

I'm getting very exited! the Coop ( http://artistcoop.blogspot.com/ Official opening is this Sunday, Nov 1st!) has been open "unofficially" for 2 weeks now, and I've sold pieces! I stopped by the gallery in Merle Hay Mall yesterday and talked to one of the Coop partners Monika. She's a fabulous painter in her own right, and quite interesting to talk to. Among the good news I've already sold some jewelry, we talked some about how important the Internet is for artist to self-promote. She didn't realize it but her opening the gallery galvanized my actions. In the last 3 weeks I've opened a business page on facebook, a twitter account, and a new shop on artfire.com . All of this was inspired by being invited to join the gallery.

You see, I did a gallery years ago and it ended badly, and it's just been this year I started to seriously think about galleries again. Early September I looked up all the local galleries and made plans to visit them, checking them out for possible venues. As I still have a full time job and full time family responsibilities, and I still had shows every other weekend, the list was about as far as I 'd gotten.

So out of the blue I'm invited by an artist I met at a show earlier this year to submit my jewelry to a gallery coop that was opening soon. The artist was Monika BTW. She sent the invite via email, and I saw she had a twitter account and a facebook page for both her as an artist and one for the gallery. Now I've thought about using the Internet more forcefully, but time constraints made me hesitate. I haven't kept my website up to date in the last few years, but I've been blogging regularly. Last January one of my goals was to blog at least weekly... more if possible. Part of that was a test for myself, to see if I could provide reasonable contact in a timely fashion. If I'm going to do this, I want to do it right! I'm pretty proud of myself, I have posted weekly, and more all year.

So getting into this gallery was the best kind of luck... it is serendipity. Serendipity is being lucky.. knowing your lucky, and actually doing something with the honey pot that falls into your lap! So, take a look... I have links to my facebook page and twitter on the right side of my blog. I've also updated my website with links. I'm trying to list something everyday on artfire, and I put it out on facebook/twitter when I do. And while this is all work, it's fun also. I know I won't be able to post everyday, but I've made the commitment to myself. Reaching out on the web is a priority in my life. I am ready to grow my art business.

Abstract Painting Pendant

I don't always name my pieces.. I know, I should! But this one was just so kewl to shape the wire! It is the product of a happy accident.. I had a new texture hammer, but no sheet handy to try it out. the thickest bit of metal I had on me was 14 GA half round wire. So WACK! The new texture hammer by the way is fabulous! But then I had 8 inches of lovely textured 14 GA half round. Just can't have that laying around!!! So I experimented with twisting it this way or that... and realized it made a great do- dad for hanging a pendant from. A quick look through my travel stash, and I found the perfect bead to go with it... a handmade lampwork bead with sterling wire drizzled on it. I think the random pattern of the silver on the bead perfectly compliments the randomness of the bail. Enjoy!

Birthday prezzies given and recieved....

OK, this is my last post on my girl's weekend... but the reason we get together in Oct is it's Cathie's and I's birthday month, and February is - you guessed it - Sue's. So much exchanging of gifts happen, and this year the Ladies from South Dakota outdid themselves!!! I got both birthday and Christmas gifts!!! I got these kewl kitty-cat stacking trays, 4 great musicals ( one of them is "On the Town" which I was raving about in my blog awhile back... again I endorse it as a great movie!! ) and they found the cutest tiniest fridge I've ever seen in my life, and then they made it cuter! Sue and Mathew (Sue's hubby, hi Matt!) decorated it with my company name, artistic swirls and tiny black cats! It's a work of art in and of itself! WOW! Once again, thanks so much for my prezzies gals! As you can see it's all decked out in Diet Coke (evil artist drink of choice) and yes, that's a bag of butterfingers lurking in the cold depth of the fridge. Bonus, little girl hasn't thought to look in my fridge for treats, so I might get to eat a few this time.

Now you are wondering what I gave Cathie for her birthday.... well I'm very proud of myself. Last time we got together, she saw these great vintage crystal cabs of mine, and said make her something with them. They are 12x18mm maybe?I've never wrapped anything that small before, it's quite challenging! But very rewarding, she loved them!! I tried to wrap them as open as possible, to allow the light to really filter through and make them glitter.. and boy do they ever! I love my vintage stock, especially when I can use them to make someone so happy!