Treasury Listings...

I think I have told all of you this before, but I do absolutely LOVE Etsy! I have been trying to fine tune my ability to make treasury listings. Treasury listings are a grouping of sixteen links that go together and form a kind of collection. I have made four of them so far. People can go in and look at the treasury and then they have the ability to click on individual links in the treasury. If they click on an individual picture, they are taken to the shop that listed the item.
There are some truly amazing treasury listings on Etsy. Would you like to see mine? You can go HERE for the one I created this afternoon, or HERE for one that I created on November 16th, or HERE for another one that I created on that same day, or HERE to see my very first treasury listing that I did on November 10th. You can also go HERE to see my favorite treasury listings. They are truly works of art.
I hope that you have all had a chance to go to the ETSY WEBSITE and explore. There are so many  things to look at, so many beautiful pictures. I love the visual side of Etsy. People that are not photographers or may not have any experience with photography at all post some of the greatest pictures. It is because pictures are all that you get to work with, well pictures and the description. I can tell you one thing, I have never been disappointed with the purchases I have made on the Etsy website. Each shop that I have purchased from had very clear, concise photos and descriptions that were very truthful. I got exactly what I thought I was getting. It has yet to disappoint. I plan to do some Christmas shopping on Etsy this year. I have vowed that I am giving HOMEMADE this year!
Speaking of great photos, I have been exploring my next post for the Daily Wire Transfer. I have found what I want to post, and it is art in an entirely different form...food! There are some creative people out there that like to create edible treats that you want to devour as soon as you see them. This blog has plenty of things that make you feel like that. Would you like to experience it for yourself? Well, I will not keep you waiting any longer. Here is today's DAILY WIRE TRANSFER
Now please try not to gnaw through your computer screen. I know the pictures are absolutely tantalizing, but I am quite certain that they won't taste quite as good as the real thing.
Have a great evening and I hope you enjoy the lovely eye candy that I have displayed here for you to look at tonight.

But Alas, Plans Change...

Last night, I had plans to get price tags on all of my jewelry, but alas, plans change. My price tag labels were not up to par, so I was going to get some printed. Guess what??? My printer was out of ink and I forgot to buy spare ink cartridges when I went to the big city last time.
I used some of my old tags, got a few prices on and then the phone rang. It was Kirt. He asked if I had already picked up the boys and if we would like to go out to dinner. I, of course, said "yes!" Who in their right mind turns down an opportunity to eat out with the fam and not have to cook? I hurriedly made plans to use a different printer to print some price labels off after we got done eating. I would drive back to town when we got home and just print them off. Perfect!
Kirt got home and picked up me and the boys and we drove to Hansel & Gretels to eat pizza and french fries and a few yummies. It was nice. The boys were behaving well and all was good. Soon the conversation turned to GOLD RUSH, a show that we have been watching faithfully on NetFlix, aired by the  Discovery Channel. This is a show that we are addicted to, as a family, that we watch on a regular basis. We only have two more episodes to watch of season 1! The decision was made that when we got home, we would tune in to the last two episodes of this truly addictive show. But, I had made plans to get my price labels done and get prices on all of my jewelry, but alas, plans change.
We drove home and turned on the TV. We tuned into Gold Rush and watched the last two episodes...and I did not get price tags on my jewelry. I have a show tomorrow. I am leaving at noon today from work to go and set up for this show. I printed off price tags this morning and I hope to take a little time at noon to get things priced before I leave to go set up. Set up is from noon until 6:00 tonight, so I think I have plenty of time. I really hate it when I procrastinate! Oh well, it always makes life more interesting.
So, I will be at the craft show tomorrow in Cody at the Cody Auditorium from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. and I hope to have all of my items priced. I hope to see you there and if something is not priced, you truly know the reason why.
So here I am at the end of my blog post and I have a great Daily Wire Transfer for you today. Since it seems like I am really enjoying photography lately, I have decided to stay with this theme for today's event as well. It is another great photography blog and you can escape there now. Just go here- THE DAILY WIRE TRANSFER and have a beautiful, snowy, blessed day!

Crazy Lace Agate

Last night I wrapped a beautiful crazy lace agate in antiqued sterling silver. I love the way it turned out! I love to combine techniques and see where the elements of the design take me. Here is where they took me last night...

 I love the greys and whites in the stone, but I especially love the yellow in the very bottom left hand corner. This stone deserved to be wrapped in lavish style. I can only hope that I did it justice.
Next weekend, November 19th, I will be in Cody, WY at the Cody Auditorium. The Crisis Intervention Center is putting on a craft show and I will be there with all of my jewelry for sale. I hope that you can come. I would love to see you there.
Tonight is a short but sweet blog post, as I have some things to get done around the house. I wanted to come in and at least show you the piece that I did last night, and to give you this...amazing art in photographs. Here is the DAILY WIRE TRANSFER. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did! The photos are absolutely AMAZING! The colors are vivid and bright and the architecture is simply breathtaking. Enjoy!!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

I have to tell you, taking pictures is an incredible feat if you want to get them right. I worked with my light box all weekend and took pictures for 2 days solid, well until it got too dark anyway. I got up early and fed my passion for hours. I quite like the results. I took pictures of almost all of my jewelry. The light coming through the windows was almost perfect. I took pictures of my rings, pendants, necklaces, and bracelets. I have a couple of boxes of rings to photograph still and the bookmarks and key chains along with the earrings. There are a couple necklaces that I want to do over, but for the most part, Picture taking is almost done until I make something new. I just have to get pictures of the new stuff right away so that I don't have to do this sort of thing again. It is very time consuming.
Would you like to see some of the pictures I took? I have many to show you. Here are my rings, both simple and my CZ prong rings. I love the way the color shows up in the natural light.

The way that the pendants look is simply pleasing to the eye.

 I got a couple shots of my sets...

And the necklaces themselves never looked better.

The natural light brings out the true beauty in all of my designs. The colors in the bracelets are rich and supple.

Yes, I believe that natural light is the key ingredient. The light box is wonderful at capturing the light needed to take great photos. It was easy to build and I can use my displays with ease. I found the instructions to build my own light box HERE. If you need to take great pictures and don't want to spend a lot of money, I suggest the light box. I think my photos speak for themselves.
I am sorry I didn't get in here to get a post written yesterday, but as you can see, I was quite busy taking great photos. I want to share with you the DAILY WIRE TRANSFER today. I think it is pretty cool. Some people just have incredible imaginations, as this woman, with her vision of a Dandelion Ceiling. Take a look at today's DAILY WIRE TRANSFER and have a wonderful day!

The Daily Wire Transfer

I thought about something today that really appeals to my senses. I really want to make my blog fun and exciting. I thought of ways in which I could do this and I came up with the idea of The Daily Wire Transfer. I want to post things of interest here so that you all can see them and read about them. I want to post new postings about my jewelry, of course, but I want to do more than that. I want to post things of interest, in all forms of art. I want to celebrate artists in general as well as tell you about the cool things I am working on.
I am an artist through and through. I believe in the arts and therefore, I believe in supporting other artists. There are so many forms of art in the world, and there are so many different ways of expressing it. I believe that art should be celebrated and this is what has inspired me to post The Daily Wire Transfer.
I want to explain what The Daily Wire Transfer is. I have decided that I will post the latest things I am working on, but at the end of my posts, I will give you The Daily Wire Transfer link to click on. This will take you to another blog, or website that I find interesting in some form or another. I chose the name The Daily Wire Transfer because I am a wire artist. I think that giving you The Daily Wire Transfer is only appropriate as you will be taken from my blog, that discusses wire and wire jewelry, to another blog that discusses other things of interest. They may be about wire, or they may be about photography, or they may be about something else, but my guarantee is that you will want to click. They will be interesting and refreshing and this is my promise to you.
So, this is the first day and since I have been busy with marketing and I did not make anything new last night, I give you this instead~ the very first DAILY WIRE TRANSFER!
I hope that you enjoy what you see and that you come back tomorrow to see where I send you next. Don't worry, I will keep you informed of what I am doing and where I am going and the challenges that I may face in day to day life as a jewelry artist, but I want to give you more than just that, so I am going to implement The Daily Wire Transfer...  so enjoy!

A Little Celtic Necklace

It worked! The idea in my head came out in wire and stones. I, once again, was able to take the idea out of my head and fashion it into a lovely piece of handcrafted art. Would you like to see it?
Here it is...

 Once again, I am quite pleased with the way the design came out. It worked out the way that I saw it and I think it turned out very pretty. What do you think?
I used sterling silver and made the base swirls and curls, I then wrapped the stone and added it to the base. I absolutely LOVE antiqued sterling silver. I love the way it looks and the fact that it is NOT shiny. It appeals to me in many ways.
After I finished the pendant, I decided to make the cord. I chose a brown hemp, as I thought that this would do a nice job complementing the stone. I wrapped sterling silver around the cord where I wanted the sterling silver beads to stop. I am happy!
I call this particular necklace A Little Celtic Necklace. I called it this to have a little play on words. It is a smaller pendent, therefore the word little came to mind. It also holds a hint of Celtic design therefore, I could use Little Celtic Necklace with two meanings. The green in the stone reminds me of the colors of Scotland as well, so you can take the name to mean whatever you want it to in terms of the design. This was my intention, and I think that I succeeded.
My mind is at peace for now. In fact, I worked on marketing more tonight than anything else. The Fighter may just be ready to give me a break...? I really don't plan on counting on this, because it tends to show up when I least expect it. (I really hope to be able to sleep tonight!)
It is finally Friday tomorrow, my favorite day of the week. I have plans to take pictures of jewelry all weekend with some natural light and get some more things posted in my Etsy shop. I am not really pleased with the pictures of the rings I have posted in my shop now, so I really want to work on fine tuning my pictures so that I can make my shop stand out. I will keep you posted...

The Amethyst Lace Agate Necklace

After creating the Snow and Ice Necklace the other night, I decided that I was not finished with swirling wire for the evening. I wanted to keep going, I wanted to do more. I just couldn't throw in the towel yet. I needed to do at least one more necklace to feed the appetite.
I chose a stone that I purchased from Here. I like to use cabs and stones from other artists that are trying to make a living doing what I do, creating trinkets from their passion. Laura is a person that has a passion to create lovely cabochons. I love to buy from her because she truly is a passionate person and she really cares about her customers as well as the items she creates. I purchased a lovely piece of Amethyst Lace Agate from her and I had to do something with it.
Keeping with the rolling, scrolling wire designs that I have come to love, I made the base form. I then took the Amethyst Lace Agate and wrapped it. I combined the two~ the wire base and the wrapped stone~ and I created this...

I love the markings in the stone. Laura does amazing work doesn't she? You can tell that she has a passion for the stones she creates. They are absolutely beautiful!
So, here is the second necklace created on the same night as Snow and Ice. I just can't stop with the swirls and curls.
I have another idea that appeared to me today as I was getting ready for work. I can't wait to design it! I will use a couple of different techniques that I have learned and I hope it turns out as well as the idea in my head. If you are an artist, are you consumed at every moment with ideas and plagued with a Fighter such as I am? I often wonder what other creators have as a driving force in them. Maybe I will have to do an interview with one someday to find out. That would make for an interesting blog post, wouldn't you say?
I hope to begin working on the new design idea tonight. It is hard at times not to just go home at lunch time and begin a project. I know if I did that though, I would be late coming back to work, if I made it back at all. No, it is better to restrain myself and the Fighter and work on these things in the evenings after I get home.
I know what I will be doing tonight, and thinking about every second until I get started. Stay tuned and see if I can create what I so vividly see in my mind.

Snow and Ice Necklace

OK, so I am watching TV in my chair 3 nights ago and I fall asleep. I wake up at about 11:30 P.M. and decide to go in and actually go to bed in my bed. I am tired and I feel as if I am ready to just collapse into a deep sleep. I lay down and close my eyes and who should appear?... The Fighter! Man, I wish that I could control the monster inside my head!
I began to think of ways to do a wire wrapped necklace with one of the druzy agates I have acquired in my travels picking up lovely items to create with. I was consumed with ideas of swirls of wire and the agate hanging like a pendulum from the bottom of the design.
I lay awake until about 3:00 A.M., but I had my idea! It was clear to me and I had to really concentrate so that I did not give in to the Fighter and go to the work table and begin creating at that very moment.
I lay awake trying to clear my head and think of NOTHING! Have you ever tried to do this? It is quite difficult. As I try to think of NOTHING, SOMETHING always takes the place of NOTHING! In my case, that SOMETHING is usually what I am trying to forget about while I try so hard to think of NOTHING. The necklace was consuming every aspect of my senses.
I finally staved off the urge to create and fell asleep. I woke up before I actually had to the next morning and guess what, there was the image of the necklace bright and shining in my minds eye. I got up and got ready for work early (5:30 A.M.).
I went to work and worked all day. I did not draw out the necklace because I believe that part of me wants to RULE the Fighter and show it that I am the one in charge. I would decide when I was going to do this design that was nagging at every nerve ending. I would choose...I would decide! I was able to stave off the Fighter for a total of 2 days~and then I gave in.
Last night I decided to bring the design in my head to fruition. The agate in the idea in my head was one of the black agates, but I asked my Cache Man to pick the one that would make up the focal piece of my necklace. He picked one of the blue ones instead. I will show the Fighter~one way or another!
I chose to go with what Cache had decided, instead of giving in to the Fighter and working with the black one, I picked up the blue one. The design elements would be the same, so I knew I could pull it off. I sat down and began to bend the wire. I knew where I wanted the wire to go and I knew what I wanted the piece to look like. It did exactly what I wanted it to do. Do you want to see what the Fighter possessed me to create?
Well here it is...

This picture was taken without flash.
This is what it looks like with flash...

This piece has been dubbed Snow and Ice. I chose the name because of the colors and the crystals in the agate. The ice blue crystal accents helped with the idea behind the name as well. I coiled the neck wires, as this has become something that I really love to do. Needless to say, the Fighter has proved right once again.
I never tire of the fascination of how I can create these items with just my two hands and a few tools. To see something so vivid in my mind and work it out into wire and beads or stones simply amazes me. I can't draw drawings that I see, I can't create animals or plants I see out of elements such as clay. So why is it I  can create what I see exactly as I see it as long as it is with wire and beads, rocks and crystals? This simply baffles me. I see other things just as clearly, such as an elephant or bird, but when I go to create these things out of clay or draw them, it simply turns out crappy! I guess I was just intended to do things with wire and beads, rocks and crystals...to make pieces of jewelry instead of fascinating drawings or clay masterpieces. I am just glad that God gave me this gift and that the Fighter just keeps egging me on...

Continuing On With Some Of My Favorite Things...

On October 7th, I posted some of my favorite things. Today, I wanted to continue on with this because I think that there are some really cool things to be found HERE and if you haven't had an opportunity to click, I think that you should.
The world is filled with amazing artists and creative minds that fill the pages of their Etsy stores with wonderful creations. There are so many things listed that your attention can literally be captured for hours. If you have someone in your life that you find it hard to buy for, I dare you to go HERE because you may just find something for that hard-to-buy-for loved one.
I happen to love This and if I had a little girl grand-daughter baby right now, you can bet she would probably be sportin' this around town in the winter months. It is absolutely ADORABLE! I believe it to be quite a statement and I bet you can't find it HERE!
What about These? Oh my gosh!!! These are so darn CUTE! Just look at the fur and the stitching and the originality of them. What mom would not be proud to get all the compliments on such a well dressed tyke? And I bet you can't find them HERE!
I can't think of many boys that This would not look good on. If he has to wear one when it is cold outside, why not make it be one like this? One that makes him look like a boy with attitude? A boy with his own style? I don't think it would damage his ego as much as This!
For Mom, I think that This is gorgeous! It is very beautiful and very classy and a true statement article. I think that any mom would be happy to receive this as a gift from a loved one, especially one of her children.
In my life, the dads seem the hardest to buy for. I found This and I think it to be very cool. It is something that is sentimental and I am certain it would become a very prized possession. Some dads may take things like this and put them in their treasure boxes only to take them out and look at them when they have a moment to themselves. Some dads use items like this everyday so that they have it with them at all times, like the lucky coin they carry in their pocket. Some dads may place it somewhere in plain site so that they may gaze upon it whenever the mood strikes them. Whatever the dad in your life does with items such as this, you can be sure that it will be looked upon as a treasure for many years.
These are again some of my favorite things. They are simple~yet elegant, functional~yet tasteful, graceful and charming. I bet that if you went to look for yourself, you would find something for everyone on your list~no matter the occasion. 

Change...

My life has changed once more. Change is ever present, forever recurring. I have been told over and over again that change is good. I, for one, happen to agree~especially when change brings about such things as this...

Meet my new grandson: Zeakyn Ray Thomas, born October 28, 2011 at 5:01 P.M. He weighed in at 7 lbs .02 oz. He was 19 inches long. He had curly blonde hair that has since turned to straight blonde hair and lots of it. His mommy is Chelsea Morgan...

And his daddy is Guy Morgan...

His big brother is Zaidyn Morgan...

 And he himself is beautiful!

He has a lovely family...

That will love him and take care of him all of his days. I think that Z likes him quite a bit...

As he hugs him and kisses him whenever he gets the opportunity.
Yes change, it is inevitable, it will happen without question but it is this kind of change that I welcome everyday. The kind of change that warms your heart and lets you know that God is present and He is mighty. The kind of change that makes us realize the important things in our lives and makes us appreciate them and hold them closer. The kind of change that makes us love and cherish each other and know that we have done right by our children. The kind of change that turns daughters into wives and sons into husbands. The kind of change that brings the two together to create families of their own to carry on family traditions and to bring about some new ones.
What would this world be without change? This change has made me one very happy Nana!