Technical Difficulties--Or, Why I Haven't Made anything cool in ages.

On Friday, June 3rd, 2011, I went out to Karaoke with my family and a good time was had by all.  Life was normal.  On Saturday, June 4th, 2011, I was awakened by crushing chest pains that radiated into my shoulders, back, and abdomen.  I thought I was gonna die of a heart attack on the spot.  Never one to leap into untried waters, I called my hubby who was working Saturday and had him look up symptoms of female heart attacks on the internet for me.  He called an ambulance for me since I was far from lucid by then. 

The rest is mostly a blur.  I remember a little about the paramedics, a bit about the ambulance ride, my ex-Catholic guilt coming up because I wanted to stay still for the CT scan but couldn't stop my body from moaning in pain....it turned out I had an abdominal rupture from a stomach surgery two years ago.  Thankful for the news that it was not a heart attack, I was happy though still in pain, until I found out what the treatment woud be.  Total "rest" of my stomach, meaning I couldn't eat or drink anything for at least a month.  Also an aggressive drug treatment protocol of IV antibiotics and antifungals was started.  After a few days they started feeding me through the IV.  I spent 2 weeks in the hospital, some of it in ICU, and now I'm home learning from a home nurse how to manage my own IV treatments and feedings.  Right now it feels like a full-time job, but I'm sure as I get a few more days under my belt, it will seem more manageable.  Unfortunately I will still be starving and coveting food and drink with an intensity I couldn't have anticipated.  I am so emotionally addicted to food!  This will be a learning experience, that is for sure.  So far, all I have had energy for is managing all the IV meds, sleeping, and reading.  Hopefully I can make some jewelry soon. 

I want to say a big sappy thank-you to all my hospital nurses at Skyridge,  in ICU and unit 6, who were wonderful, and to Dawn, who is my visiting nurse and who has the patience of a saint.  Nurses rock!  They work so hard and take such good care of people....wow.  What a noble, hard job, and how admirably it is being done!

Sorry for the boring post, but I thought I should explain my absence recently. 

What's New? Jewelry!

This piece is all about Industrial Chic from Michaels'



and some cool chain I found.





It would be impossible not to come up with something cool.
(No, the five is not a tattoo--it's a charm.)



Cool color-changing mood beads





See how the colors get brighter when you wear them?



This is one of my pieces that gets the most attention--vintage bottle caps with crystal beads.



Bottle caps in the back, too, with a big clasp.



That's all for tonight.  Be well, and I'll see you around the internet.  Thanks for checking out my blog.

RIP Tigger

Our beloved Devon Rex girl kitty had to be put down on March 14th, the day before my birthday.  Tigger, we will miss you! 



Tigger is on the right; Pooh (L) is actually looking backward, so it looks like Tigger's head is on Pooh's body.  Best I could do.



In celebration of the one cat standing, I give you--

An homage to Piglet: 



Piglet gets some beauty rest



No paparazzi, please. 

Piglet investigates a Tokyo Joe's bag.

Who, Me?  I was nowhere near that Tokyo Joe's bag!

I don't have any new jewelry I've made lately to show you, so I'll just show you a couple of my favorite vintage pieces.

You know me--if some bling is good, more is better!

Another view of the vintage bracelets

And finally, I will close with a photo of my coolest tights, just cause I got a new camera and I've been taking lots of pix.

Pretty wild, huh?  I like to walk on the wild side sometimes.

So, cheers for now, and I will post pix soon after I make the jewelry that's in my head.

A minor setback

Well, it's official.  I broke my pinky....it was a pretty ugly break, so they had to go in and put pins in and everything.  Naturally it's my right hand, and I am the least ambidextrous person you've ever met.  There goes jewelry making, and art journaling, and even just being able to type with two hands.  Some days it's hard not to feel like Charlie Brown, or Ziggy.  Remember Ziggy?  It's SO frustrating, because I was finally getting to be somewhat competent with my shoulder replacement I had in June and now this had to happen.  I promise, I'll start looking for a silver lining.....tomorrow.

A Few New Designs

Just a quick blog-and-run today because I made some new pieces and I wanted to show them to you.  They are a continuation of my first blog post, about Making Memories' Vintage Groove components.  I was so excited when they started carrying these at the Michaels in Brighton, Colorado.  It's a bit of a trek, but it is such a superior Michaels, with such great stuff (like Vintage Groove) that I don't mind the drive. 

I finally had some time to play a little more, and this is what I came up with.

I really like these, with the crystal pendants and the text charms.  I'm wearing them right now, feeling just that little bit more sophisticated than I do with unadorned ears.  Gotta be the dangles.


Okay, crank your head to the left because, no matter what I do, this picture shows up sideways.
These earrings have big gray pearl pendants with light, sort of lime-green glass charms.  A
definite walk on the wild side for me, but I like them.

Here is part of the "Joy" Designer's Pack, used in a necklace with some turquoise and some chain.
Definitely a fun look!

Here's a closeup of the dangly charms and pendants.



And I just wanted you to be able to see the "Joy" piece, because--well, joy is such a big deal and such a big part of
creating and wearing jewelry. 



Oh, and just to end on a happy, seasonal note, I'd like to present a vintage picture of my daughter.


 

 Hopefully she won't mind, as she is 20 now, and quite a good sport about such things. 

Thank you for checking out the new stuff.  I hope to have more soon.

Jewelry Favorites

Good evening.  Actually, I guess "Good morning" would be more correct. I am such a night owl!  Since I'm not sleeping anyway, I thought I would share some more jewelry, which led to a slightly panicky search which finally produced the disk I was looking for. 

 The above is a freeform beadwoven piece, "Blue Nuance" that took quite a while to make.  It was a very soothing and meditative practice, and I just made it up as I went along.  Here's another pic.  In retrospect, I should have chosen a different background color for the photo.

Here is a Classic Pooh gem chip watch.  I love Classic Pooh and friends so much!!!

This next one was one of my first forays into polymer clay beads.  We had some fun, polymer clay and I.  Somehow my vision always exceeds my grasp in that particular medium....But my favorite thing about this piece is the way the strands intertwine. 

This was my first really freeform piece.  I guess if I had to name it, I would go simple: "Red"

I have come to refer to the next piece as "Larry's Necklace," because Larry bought it for his wife one Christmas.  It was a lot of fun to make, and to wear while I had it.  People were always trying to figure out what it "meant".  I think the entirety of my thought process was, "This might look cool!"  No deep numerological meaning, that I'm aware of, anyway.

I think this next one was my first piece.  It's called "Ooh!  Beads!" and it was inspired by my virgin trip to the bead store.  All the colors!  I was hooked!

This piece has wirework and lampwork on it, and is much bolder than most of my earlier work.  We'll call her "Spiral Lampwork Goddess".

The back of the spiral goddess piece is pretty, too.  (This closeup is of  a spiral goddess on a different necklace).  I wish I could remember the vendor who made the goddess pieces, although I believe I have several different goddesses left in my stash.

And last before I call it a night, we have this choker made with cool carved turquoise beads.

That is sort of what seems, at 2:30 in the morning, to be the cream of the crop of the jewelry I've made, of which I have pictures.  If I can figure out how to do folders on here, where you would click on them and the previously hidden content would be revealed, I will put up the rest of the jewelry.  I'm also considering Etsy or ArtFire.

 Thank you for letting me show it to you!  Goodnight.

A Tribute to Pooh Bear, RIP

My wonderful kitty, Pooh Bear, died of cancer many moons ago.  A very generous artist and new friend, Maitha, has offered to do some drawings of him to help me in my art journaling process of letting him go.  This is the first of the drawings, and I think it turned out just amazing.  Thank you so much, Maitha.  You have such a good heart.  I will post a link to your blog when I can find one.  Could you send me one again, actually?  Thanks.