Shelling on Sanibel

It's been a while since I've last posted, but it doesn't mean I've forgotten about you. I've been doing lots of things. Sometimes life gets so busy it's hard to take the time to sit down and put things pen to paper, so to speak!

This lovely photo was taken from Fort Myers Beach, Florida looking towards Sanibel Island. It was a great vacation for me. I spent some of the time shelling on the islands and looking for sea glass. I didn't find any sea glass, but found lots of wonderful shells. I hope to get drilling soon and using them in some of my creations!

A few of the shells I collected.

Time in the garden

To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves. -Mohandas K. Gandhi 

 It's always amazing to me how gardening is a metaphor for life. Spring always brings new beginnings, new desires, new dreams. I seemed to have ignored my blog, just as I put away the fruits of my past gardens. Allowing the blog to lay dormant over the winter, and now that springtime is in full glory here in Michigan my thoughts have returned to it just as I have tended to my spring time garden. It's not to say I haven't been busy-so many new sea glass designs-I'll share them with you soon! But, in the mean time here's a few pictures of my just planted garden.  We went to the plant sale on Belle Isle this Saturday-I love supporting the agroscience students. They grow a wide variety of plants-including tons of heirloom tomato varieties.

 Plant sale at Belle Isle

 A few of the plants on the deck-I hope we can move them when we get the deck refinished!

 My 3 year old blueberry bush-I think we will have enough blueberries for a pie this year, that is if I can keep the birds out!

 This might not be the garden of my dreams-but in my little spot I have  tomatoes, peppers, beans and herbs-enough to keep me happy.

You just can't feed the body-you have to feed your soul too.

Bridesmaid earrings

Or what do you make for your daughters wedding?

It's been a busy summer! My daughter is getting married September 22, and I'm just starting her bridal jewelry! It's been challenging, her tastes run different from mine. Now that's a suprise-lol! She's going with a brass and filigree theme-I'm more of a sterling silver and clean line gal. Her fall colored theme of golden yellows, burnt orange, and copper tones make brass findings a natural choice. Here's a peek at how the earrings-or at least one of them will look.

Now only 13 more of these to go, plus three little pairs for the flower  girls, 7 necklaces, and the brides jewelry...Oh and mine too! I do have 10 days....

So what did you do this summer?

Well it's been another while since I've posted, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy! I've finally decided to create my own website-and Phew...It's been a lot of work!. My "official" launch isn't until next Friday, August 24th. But I thought I'd let you in on a sneak peek of my theme.

You wouldn't believe how much work there is involved in switching to you own website-all new business cards, banners, stickers. Not to mention uploading pictures, writing description, designing a logo,formatting a new site-a lot of work for sure. I'm pretty pleased with what I've accomplished so far. All this and getting read for my craft shows and my daughter's upcoming wedding...I really have been busy this summer!

All for now,
Felicia

Pin it and win it!

Just when you're feeling like nothing is going your way. BAM! Something good comes along! Life's funny that way. My artfire studio  has been just languishing in January, I've been working hard on promoting, spending way to much time on Facebook, but I haven't been able to shake the January doldrums. Maybe it's the weather, or economy. Anyway, I haven't worried about it too much. I figure time has a way of evening out things-just like in life. At least I been busy taking some new soldering classes and being able to create a lot of new items!

Well Artfire started a new promotion-Pin it and win it.  What's Pin it? Well If you haven't heard about Pinterest yet you will soon. Think of it as a virtual scrapbook-anything you can see online you can pin, recipes, inspirations, pets, people, places, things, flowers, wedding ideas, cookies, holidays, Valentines, Christmas ,New Years, Easter, ......Oh it does get crazy and addictive! See how easy it is to get side-tracked...Well Artfire has jumped on to the Pinterest bandwagon to. To get Artfire members using Pintrest, that came up with a promotion, first Artfire members would tweet or post on facebook an item from their studio that they would like Artfire to promote, then Artfire would randomly select one of those items  and put it on the Artfire pin board. Members of Pinterest would (hopefully) repin the item and at the end of the week Artfire would buy it for one of the repinners. So have I confused and lost you? The details can be seen in this forum posting. "Pin it and win it!".

For the first item in this promotion my Sea Glass Bracelet was chosen! Not too bad, considering I only tweeted it and posted about it once. It is my lucky day!



So if you are on Pinterest here's the link to the Artfire board.  Maybe you'll be the lucky person that wins this! Anyway, be sure to check out Pinterest. it's fun, and oh yeah...it gives you another excuse to stay up to 3 in morning!