Happy Wedding Anniversary to Me!

Yesterday was my 17Th wedding anniversary to my wonderful Jerry.

I'm not sure how most people celebrate anniversaries -- probably dinner and a movie? Our idea of a good time is simple : we went garage sale-ing.

Actually just spending time together works; but with jewelry shows most summer weekends, spending a morning checking out garage sales together is a real treat. The main goal is trying to find vintage costume jewelry and old board games, but we always keep our eyes open for something interesting.

While I did buy 1 piece of jewelry ( a very interesting brass chain actually you can see the pic above) the big finds of the day were furniture! We found this beautiful maple wood dresser with hutch at a tag sale and I just had to have it. We moved my old dresser to Jesscera's room as it's much bigger than her old one and in better shape. I'll take pics of it soon, right now it's in place in my bed room but it's not assembled yet.

I also found a nice computer chair for downstairs for cheap, and a kitchen type cart that is going up to the studio.

And I found a cricut expressions in brand new condition at a great price! it didn't come with a cartridge so I splurged and bought one to play with. I can't wait to figure out ways to use this in my jewelry making! I've got several ideas bouncing around in my head already for this. It still has the how to use CD ( it's never been watched actually, it's still in it's originally sealed plastic) and instruction book.

Maybe since it was such a special occasion we had such good luck. Usually I find a few books, a piece of jewelry and maybe a shirt for the girl!

To top off our day together, we also hit a couple of bakeries ( Nan's Nummies in Valley Junction, and La Mie's on 42ND) and book stores ( 1/2 price book store, our family favorite and Barnes & Nobles)

To cap the day's experience we had a late lunch/ early supper at Cosi Cucina .

Oh, and we did watch a movie, Land of the Dead, George Romero's 4Th Zombie movie from 2005. CReeeepy!

What's on the Desk 7/27/11

I received another brass stamping package in the mail and I'm having so much fun! I finished up these 2 bracelets last night.
The leaf is flat normally, I made it gently curvy with pliers and my raw hide mallet, added a few holes to add chain and riveted the butterfly to the front.

The one above with the copper butterfly just looked too plain, so I added a graceful chain and crystal that drapes beautifully under the leaf.


This one I also curved the leaf, added the black butterfly and some crystals dangles .

these are really great fun to wear and look great on!

I can't wait until my next "play date" with my new brass findings !

banner done..

what do you think? it's small here, I did all lower case cause that what I ended up doing for the etsy store. here is how it looks on the store

I'll probably make a better one later, but it works for now!

banners on the brain.....

sigh.

I have 2 shops on artfire, one for my jewelry, and one to destash supplies. I pay the monthly fee for my jewelry site, which gives me all kinds of tools to play with to help promote my pieces.

My destash store is free. That means I have almost no tools but I get to list my destash for free, and since most of it I just want out of my house, it allows me to price them reasonably.

Artfire is going away from free shops as of August 15Th. I understand the decision, and from a jewelry seller standpoint I'm excited as I think it's a good move overall. However I don't want to mix my beads with my jewelry on artfire, as I worked hard to achieve the 100% handmade badge. I cannot afford to pay for 2 shops. Right now the traffic really doesn't support paying for my jewelry site, but I believe in Artfire so I'm going to stick it out for now, in hopes it will just get better and better.

So now I need to switch my supplies somewhere else.

After giving it some thought, I've decided to open a new destash store on etsy. I have to pay fees to list which will change my pricing somewhat, but hopefully the greater traffic ( and better chance to sell) will worth the extra money.

Can you believe someone already had my name on etsy??!!?? (katsdestash) ugh!

So I've opened a shop named mkpdestash. I will be migrating listings from my artfire store over the next week, and then hopefully start listing new items.

Now I've got to remember how to make a banner again for the new etsy store!

What's on the Desk 7/20/11

..... has been on my desk before. I made this over a month ago, and I'm very pleased with the colors, *BUT* it's stiffer than I like. I had it out to sell for a couple of weeks, but I've pulled it back, it just doesn't have the fluid, slinky nature that I love about chain mail. So I'm going to redo it somehow.. not sure just what I'm going to do to fix it. I really love the color combos.. it makes me think of flames! or the fall ... but I just can't stand it's lack of drape.

This bracelet though illustrates one of the quirky bits about chainmail. Even when you are using the same size rings from the same company, sometimes it just doesn't come together like it's suppose to. This is the same size as all the other Queen Link bracelets I've made, but the red colored aluminum rings seem slightly smaller than the orange and yellow. When I use red as one of many colors, just that little, tiny bit smaller doesn't effect the overall piece. But when it's every other ring, it makes the bracelet 2 stiff, and I should be ashamed it ever made it out to the table to begin with!!

Since I really like the color balance, I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do to fix the problem. Course the first problem is REACHING my desk, as my studio is afloat with thousands of comics all over the floor and tables and just about every nook and cranny. ( you can read about my comic adventures here)

I have only 1 more show in July, it's my last Jazz in July event at 6:30pm this Friday July 22ND on the Casady Building lawn. I don't have anymore shows until August 6Th! I'm hoping this weekend I can take back my studio, at least most of it, and work on a few things!! I haven't made anything this week, and I'm getting antsy!

The super high temperatures and humidly haven't helped either. My studio in my converted attic, and even with the window unit when it's this hot and muggy, it's hard to keep it cool enough to get much done.

But I wanna play!!! I have some new brass coming in, some in a copper plate finish... I cannot wait to get that package!!

Comics, Comics, everywhere...

Something you don't know about your favorite Jewelry designer. I've been collecting comics since I was 11-12 years old.
I know, shocking, strange, non-girl kind of thing huh? Not so much to me, to me reading comic books is just another form of reading, and I love to read.

Stranger still to be a 42 going on 43 year old woman who still reads comics. We still have a pull at the local comic / game shop, abet it's just 2-3 titles now. But I have something between 4000 to 5000 comic books in my collection, everything from original 1964 Fantastic Fours written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack the King Kirby, to SIP ( Strangers in Paradise) (which is fantastic series, and it's all available now in book form !! )

A couple of years ago I decided we had too much STUFF. And I started a closet clean up project. I did the first couple of closets quickly and easily. I even sold a few things on Craig's list, enough to buy a treat night out here or there.

That got me to thinking about all my material goods. I mean what GOOD are they?? What's useful about something I've stored for 13 years in my closet and I've not taken it out since?

I realized that included my comic books. So 2 years ago, I started to haul the boxes out 1 by 1 and was determined to get rid of at least some of them. I hit a road block in the very first box I pulled. It had Air-boy comics in it, and I wanted to reread them. I really enjoyed the series and I figured I should read them at least once more before I got them out of the house. Also I few comics have more than just reading value. A few comics have real memories built into them. But the issues were not all in that box, and I knew I had all the issues. The last several years when we received the comics, we would read them and then just put them in the closet.. it was too hard to pull boxes out and put them away correctly.

Time is always a issue in my house (Doesn't everyone wish they had more time?)

Since I work full time, run a home business, and I'm Wife and Mom, I didn't have much time to really work on this, let alone reading them. It dawned on me I would have to pull every box out at once, and sort through them. It would take up lot of room and time I really didn't have to do the job properly. Then I checked out the value of the comics. Some of my favorite comics are not worth what I paid for them... something to be expected, but it still hurts to learn something you value has no value. I had to decide if selling them /whatever was worth the time and effort, vs. what they were worth to me.

I had it in my head that I needed to get rid of everything, cause what was the point of keeping some of it? I mean I was trying to clean out material goods in my life right?? What is good about letting them rot in my closet ?

and it just sort of became this huge bugaboo, why did I need to do this, and why right now??? So I stopped, and put them all away.

I just wasn't ready emotionally to let go of a huge part of my childhood. I wasn't sure what I really wanted to do.

Now 2 years later, I'm ready to tackle the issue. It took me awhile to get to that place in my head were I could make the decisions I need to about this.

First, I can keep what I want. I'm keeping SIP!!! I'll probably keep air-boy, but I"m going to read it first. That was the key... reading. I'm going to use the same yard stick we use on books in the library... while I honestly re-read this comic again?

If I'm not going to re-read them, why keep them? Even if I have some emotional attachment to something in my collection... if I'm not going to re-read it, then it's senseless.

I'm ready to bargain basement those comics that have no real value except to someone that enjoys reading them.

And those few comics that are actually worth something I will sell for what I can get, either the local shop, Craig's list or eBay.

It's going to take time to go through them and prep them for sale / give away / whatever, and that's OK.

So all the boxes have journeyed up to the jewelry lair and I'm in the process of sorting them into the proper groupings. some comics I know I don't want anymore... some I am not sure of, and some I want to re-read right now !! ( I just finished re-reading SIP. Seriously, this is good stuff!)

It makes it hard to do jewelry, but I"m hoping a week of really working at it I can at least reclaim part of my studio. I should be able to get the piles off the floor at least, so I can move around.

I suspect I will end up with about 1/3 of my collection. If it ends up more or less, that's OK. It's all good. And I get to re-read some great stories in the process.

What's on the Desk 07/13/2011

OK, OK I know my posting has been spotty the last month, but I think I've got a handle on my schedule again. I am moving my What's on the Desk to Wednesdays as that's just a better day for me, instead of Monday. Weekends get so busy I don't always have time to actually work on things, let alone take pictures of them. Since Tuesday is my "studio day" where I get a block of time in the studio it made sense to move this feature to Wednesday. (Now I don't always get my beloved block of time on Tuesdays but that's a different post!! ) I plan to post at least twice a week, three times if I can swing it, but Wednesdays and Saturdays are my target days.

So what's on Kat's desk? Chainmail! I've just really been enjoying playing with rings. The first pic is a necklace I did last week, but I loved the colors on it.
This is a shot of my desk last week.. but I never got around to posting it. The scales are so much fun to play with.
Now this is my current project I'm working on right now.. It's another queen's link done with copper and Aluminum.

Something I get asked nearly every show is do I cut my own rings or not. I know saying "sometimes" is alittle wishy washy, but it's honest.

First of all, I've been playing with Aluminum rings the most. Anodizing, cutting and finishing my own Aluminum rings would require tools and equipment I simply do not have, so all the Aluminum rings are manufactured by others. I use mostly rings from 2 small, family type operations. They both have great quality and service and I feel very comfy buying rings from them.

Most of the other metal rings it's about 50 / 50 if I cut them or not. I do have the tools and materials to make rings in copper, bronze, and brass. Some of my rings I make and some I purchase, because frankly cost and time wise it's actually more efficient to purchase rings in those metals. So some I buy, some I cut, and it depends on what the project is and if I have the rings on hand or the time to cut some. If i continue on my chainmail craze then I'll probably start cutting more of the base metals ones. It's actually easier to get all the stuff out at once and cut a bunch of sizes/GA's at once. If I'm making several hundred at a time, the cost/time ratio tips more to my favor over purchasing.

I do cut all my own sterling rings at this time, because it's cheaper to do so. It's much more cost/time effective to cut my own sterling, as I already have the silver on hand, and it's so very expensive right now.

I'm mostly doing Aluminum and Aluminum with copper or bronze, as I'm really enjoying playing with color combos.

See ya in a few days!

I've joined the smartphone generation.....

Taken at Jazz in July just yesterday evening with my new i-phone. very fun evening!


After months of talking about it, Jerry and I broke down and finally got them. I got a iPhone, and he got an android ( so yes, we are a mixed household!) and frankly both are super! Both do incredibly cool things, and so far the differences between the 2 are minor and more of a cosmetic thing than not, except for 1 item.

I can make changes on my phone, easily, by doing them in i-tunes on the computer. It makes certain functions much easier to do, at least if you already have i-tunes loaded on your computer and you're familiar with them. But really the whole big fuss over "iPhone vs. androids" is really silly. I'm sure there are things on Jerry's phone I'll be green with envy, once we play with them more. Like most things in life, it all comes down to choices and trade-offs. One widget is great here, but if you have it you can't do this other thingie and visa versa.

I am loving what I can do with my new phone!! it has 2 cameras, one facing outward, and one Inward or screen facing. Eventually I could do teleconferencing with this if I wanted ( I don't really) but it's very neat feature. Here is me in my new sun hat with fancy hand painted scarf... lookin' good no?? I took this with my phone using the screen side. The picture on the top is taken using the normal "back" camera. The pics are pretty good unless I use the zoom feature 2 much, then they get fuzzy. I'm sure If I check settings I could increase the pixels and the pictures would be better.. I'll get around to it sometime. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get off level 4 in angry birds.

I love how I can take a pic with my camera and post it on facebook within minutes. Now that's really handy!

And I'm going to get a square for credit cards. Can't wait to try that out... easier for me and my customers at shows. I've been taking credit cards for years with a knuckle cruncher at shows, then running them when I got home. Now I can get instant wireless card processing and it's actually cheaper than my current option. woot!

anyone want to recommend apps, especially free ones?

What's on the desk without pictures...

This isn't on my desk.. it's already sold but I'm really happy how it turned out.. it's 2 pieces of glass wrapped together with sterling wire. I might have to try more of these....

A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read. --Mark Twain

I love that quote! I love Mark Twain. Not only is he considered one of the great (if not THE great) American writers he's darn fun to quote.

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. --Mark Twain

I'm very pleased that this weekend I'll be in Mark Twain land (specifically Hannibal MO) for Tom Sawyer Days selling my jewelry. Among very kewl events like a fence painting contest and frog jumping races they have a 3 day art show at the park.

Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get. --Mark Twain

Currently it's forecasting rain for much of the weekend. Ugh. More rain.

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt. --Mark Twain

I of course choose to hope for the best, and NO RAIN. It could happen!!

I can live for two months on a good compliment. --Mark Twain

I sold something on Artfire! woot!! to a total stranger!! I love it. This is what sold...

Today not very productive in the studio. My desk is covered with an order of Aluminum rings for chainmail. Unfortunately they didn't label them. So I am trying to mark each package with it's size. Which of them is 16GA 1/4 ID vs. 16GA 7/32 ID? this is harder than it sounds. ID stands for Inside dimension, expressed as a part of an inch. So what I'm really comparing is is 8/32Th to 7/32Th. Suddenly I think I need bi-focals. UGH!

Times flies, regardless if you are having fun or not....

Yep, those really are old watch faces. They are not exactly matched, but very very close! I punched holes and added the copper wings and brass clock arrows. And one crystal in the middle just for bling!

I actually am having fun, but busy busy busy... working on commissions again ( not complaining!! really!! Let me know if you want something done!) and trying to get ready for my first DownTown Farmer's Market on Sat!! WOOT! now hopefully it won't rain, but I'll be there either way, so please stop by.. I'm on 3rd street south side, the new area for this year! And on Sunday I'll be at Snake Alley Art Fair in Burlington, IA. So busy Weekend!! but it's good fun, and I hope to see you at one or the other.

What's on the Desk 06/12/11

OK, not actually making much tonight, but boy I'm having fun!! I bought a couple of lots of mixed brass stampings, mostly raw. Now it's kind of dirty and raw brass often still has oily stuff on it from being made, so I'm now cleaning it. I got 2 pounds so it's going to take a few days to get it all cleaned up.. but I'm already getting all kinds of great ideas for future projects, and I can't wait to get started!!

Happy Birthday to the kittens!!

I guess I can't really call them kittens anymore, they turned 1 year old today. Happy Birthday to the funny monkeys Kya and Kass! And thank you to my buddy Tammy for trusting us to have 2 of the furry butts!

Early pic, probably between 1 and 2 weeks. They are in this pile somewhere! There were 5 kittens and 1 partial momma cat in this pic.. can you count them all?

Probably around 8 weeks old here, tiny!
Kass Today. Doesn't he look willing??
Kya today.... wow, what a look!

What's your favorite number?

I was listening to NPR at my "money" job which is something I do most every day. I didn't catch the website, but one of the guests is running a survey on what is your favorite number ( I just did a net search for it, and couldn't find an active site for it... go figure..) He is finding so far that about 10% of the population doesn't have one.

Now I've had a favorite number since I was 7, and it is 7. My birthday is the 7Th ( Of October, for those who wish to send me a gift..lol), it's a prime number, it looks kewl and that year was and is very special to me.

That was the first year I didn't spend a chunk of time in the hospital. I'm not going to go into details, but as a child I was very sick and nearly died more than once. I had my last hospital visit and episode right before I turned 7.

I can remember dancing around the house as a 7 year old playing with this pipe that was shaped like the number 7, singing a song I made up about how wonderful 7 is.

I don't sing and dance about 7 anymore but it's still my favorite number. I actually use it when making jewelry... when I string I often end up making repeat patterns based on that number.

In the necklace above, I have 7 pearls leading up from the pendant before the crystals. I doubt I did it on purpose, but there you go.

So what's your favorite number, and why?

Had such a good show in Omaha....

Despite the heat and humidity we had a fab show in Omaha ! Met lots of great folks, had some great bakery goods ( always a plus) and sold some kewl jewelry. The sterling and quartz crystal cuff above, which I made last week sold among other items.

I even bought some art... a copper tray from Copper Creations, Inc Artist Randy Patzer takes copper, hammers the hell out of it ( something I love myself) and heat colors the metal. He then uses a heavy resin to seal in the colors and make them food and drink safe. I bought some small metal trays both for me and for future presents for others. Some of the colors he gets is amazing!! I really need to try this with my torch , its yet another thing on my list of stuff I want to play with in the future. I'm going to put the tray in my studio, and I have no doubt it will inspire me!

Next show up is Saturday's Oskaloosa's Art on the Square. I've done this show before and it's always fun, and the folks that run it are super nice and supportive. So stop by if you are in the area! Tomorrow I will be in the studio making items to debut at this show.

What's on the Desk (from Tues.. yep running late!)

Using brass Filigree, I made a wrap for my handmade fused glass cab.. once I picked one that worked for me ...

It's actually hard to use filigree on my fused glass, as they are free form the size isn't standard -nor is the shape.. course that's why I love them!!

I wanted something that looked like a couple of butterflies just stopped by to investigate... the colors of the necklace are in the cab, which is hard to see in these pictures.

Here's another shot of the finished necklace.. which will be proudly displayed for sale at Countryside Art Fair this weekend.. if you are in the Omaha area stop by!

Website updated...

I finally got my website back up and updated with correct show schedule. yeah!! now it's time to go play, got 2 packages in the mail today with goodies in them!! Woot!

My not so secret "shame"

I have a dirty secret, well actually 2.


I no longer make homemade mash potatoes, or almost never - instead I eat the fridge kind. I know, it's shocking, but let me defend myself!

It leads into my 2ND shocking relation: My family, my beautiful daughter, has only 1 imperfection: the potato gene skipped her.

I'm so ashamed.

Jerry ( my hubby) isn't that fond of mash potatoes either, but since he's diabetic I can reason it away as it's "health issues, poor boy" No one could blame me or point fingers for that!

I have no excuse for my daughter. She's just not a potato eater. Once in a while she will steal a french fry or 2, but hates mash potatoes. Baked? not on your life!

I have managed my shame as best as I can. I would break out in a sweat, and then make me a batch of beef and noodles with mash potatoes. I would freeze portions of the noodles... there is no point in all that work and effort to make dishes like this without making alot! Mash potatoes don't seem to freeze that well in my experience. I am the youngest of 5, I was taught to make BIG meals. Now that I have a family of 3, I try to cook less at a time, or plan for the leftovers. I hate to waste food, especially how much it costs now...

Then about 5 years ago, mash potatoes started to show up in the freezer and fridge sections of the store. At first I scoffed, but I admit I was intrigued. It made so much sense.. I could have mash potatoes any time I wanted, provided they tasted OK, without all the work and left overs. When I'm making mash potatoes just for me, all that work just seems silly and a waste of time.

I finally succumbed to temptation. I've tried all the brands, and some of them are quite good. Don't get me wrong, homemade mash potatoes will always be better, but 2 brands come pretty close to that level of tasty: Country Crock and Bob Evans. I only buy the original style, I've tried some of the other flavors ( stay away from the garlic, they just don't do something right!) but I tend to stick with the original. I won't named the awful brands, cause I cannot remember the names, but one comes in green packaging. Avoid'em.

I divide the package in 2 or 3 servings, which makes it cost effective and healthy portions.

I still make homemade, but only when I will be feeding more than me, so it makes it not so often.

One of my favorite tricks is to buy a rotisserie chicken, shred the meat and make a wonderful chicken gravy and then I'll microwave me some mash potatoes to go with it. Just for me.. Jerry and Jesscera like the gravy OK.

So there you have it, my secret shame is no more.. I'm out of the microwave mash potato closet, and it feels good!!

Promise, jewelry next time!

Anyone else tired of rain???

Boy I am!

Don't get get me wrong, had the normal fun time at West Glen Farmer's Market, but it rained almost the entire day (and for those few hardy souls who braved the just plain icky weather, we vendors thank you!) and to top it off, I've somehow cracked a rib this week. Now it feels better today ( I cracked it on Tuesday, or at least that's when it started to hurt) but let me tell you, trying to set up in the cold and the rain, with lots of lifting and bending over... well my sweet hubby had to do most of the work because I just couldn't. He's always helpful, I'm just plain luck y to be married to this man!

But he had to work extra hard to keep me from hurting myself worst.

Since this is Memorial Day Weekend, it's extra long, and my plan is to do house work very slowly ( with all the lift/bend over parts done by the kid or by the hubby), well spaced out with lots of studio time, in pj's. I've got some very kewl brass bits ordered as my extra special I cracked a rib treats, and all my fingers and toes are crossed at least one of the packages will arrive today.

If they don't that's OK.. I've got lots of projects to play with... chain maile, herringbone bracelets, metal work, pearls and I'm getting that itchy I want to melt glass feeling. I'm hoping I have a long, relaxing , productive weekend, with minimal rib involvement.

The pic is Kass, inspecting my camera tripod. He Decided he couldn't eat it or lick it dead, so wandered away.

What's on the Desk 05/23/2011

Well, not much actually. My plate is running over right now with business chores so I'm more or less between projects today.

I have a few last shows to apply for for the year, made easier by getting my new slides done. My website is apparently unchangeable, at least to this non web-geek. I have to start from scratch. This didn't make my day, but now I"m *trying* to turn this major annoyance into a positive. It's time to update the website anyway...

(repeat and click your heels 3 times)

sign.

The picture above is the brown and silver chain maile bracelet from last week, finished. I love love love how slinky it is!

Jury slides

Psss... if you want to see all of my new jewelry slides, you can on my facebook page here.