Celtic Cross & Bedroom Finale!

Saturday my ex finished the Celtic Cross and I finished the last corner of my bedroom! Didn't the cross come out lovely? I have a feeling we will soon be making one to hang in the shop. I need to make angels, small panels and other colorful goodies.

I now need to put the finishing touches on my room. I still have two large storage totes and a box to go through sort and take care of. I also have a box of Barbie stuff to put away until I find a home for it and a bag of activity stuff to donate to the pediatrics's wing at my local hospital. I still plan for more sorting and reducing of stuff later. I have a few chores that need to be done first, namely cleaning the laundry room and defrosting the freezer. Our beef will be ready for pick up by the end of the week.

Today (Sunday) we, my ex, my son, the dogs and I went to my aunt's house and helped her make jam. It was neat to go help and learn how to make jam. I've never made jam before and neither had my ex. We received the teaching and guidance of jam making combined from the lives of three women spanning two generations. I was also privileged to be the third generation to use the favorite wooden spoon and ladle favored first by my grandmother and then my aunt and now me. The spoon has been worn smooth at an angle from decades of being used by right handed women stirring pots with it. The ladle is shaped like a fat teardrop with the handle on one side so as you tip the ladle the contents spill out the pointed end. This end is perfect for pouring the jelly mixture into the small mouths of the jelly jars. And to learn the tips that my aunt, mother and grandmother have tested out over the decades in pursuit of safer, simpler canning techniques.

Bedroom Clean-Up & Rearranging II

This is the mess that I confronted this morning. My plans for the day were to carve another corner of cleanliness and organization out of this chaotic mess. (picture one, upper left corner)

The first step was to move everything to the right hand side of the room to the right hand side of the picture and vacuum. Step two was the cleaning of the TV, VCR, DVD player, cable box, converter and the hope chest they sit upon. Step three was bringing the TV, accoutrement's and the hope chest forward to the middle of the room, right up to the edge of the area rug. Step four was the cleaning of the ledge on the stairway wall and vacuuming some more. Step five was the moving of the storage carts and tubs of fabric into the newly cleaned area.

The last two pictures (upper right corner and lower left corner) shows the other end of my room on the same side as yesterday. The picture is taken from in front of the window. The middle one shows that section of my room in it's new found glory of cleanliness. The last picture is a close up of how this corner is a organized storage slash work area for my sewing and crafting goodies. The paper bag is for the books I've read and am planning on trading in.

I spent the evening watching NCIS while sorting jewelry supplies. I organized a bunch of findings and beads. I emptied four plastic storage boxes! I am talking about THREE cases of 48 of little plastic boxes per case plus one other storage box.

I've come up with some goals for the next few weeks when it comes to my room. If I don't I won't get this room finished and organized.

Goal #1~~~I have way to much fabric and I plan to whittle my six large plastic tubs down to five. (Four would really be amazing! And better.)

Goal #2~~~I still have a bunch of boxes, plastic bins, tubs and crates full of junk that needs to be gone through, sorted and put away. I will do one container a day until it is all put away, given away or tossed.

Goal #3~~~I need to get another bookcase and get all the books I pulled out and stacked up so I could move it to another corner and use it for my beads and stuff.

Goal #4~~~To straighten up my room before I go to bed at night.

Of course I still need to clean out the last corner in my room, dust and vacuum the shelves on the window wall and of course get that closet cleaned up. If I work on it 20-30 minutes a day it will be done in no time at all!

So far this arrangement is very comfortable and relaxing!!!

Tuesday's Work & Listings

Well here is all my hard work for yesterday! I cleaned out the glass case where I will be displaying my jewelry until next Memorial Day Weekend except for the two holiday shows I will be doing this year. I cleaned the dust and paw prints off the shelves. Cleaned a year's worth of accumulated junk off the top and washed away the dirt and nose prints off of the outside. (we'll see how long that lasts!)

Here is my first listing for yesterday, my "Winterberry" necklace, a brand new listing in my studio.

My second listing was a makeover listing for my "Harvest Moon" necklace.

The third listing was "Twilight", another new listing in my studio and a new color group of rings.

The fourth and final listing was another new listing, "Ancient Spirals".

FALL CLEARANCE SALE!!!

FALL CLEARANCE SALE!!!

Well summer is almost over, the kids are back in school and I have too much inventory on my hands!! So.. to fix this problem and celebrate the upcoming fall season I have marked 40% off of all items showing in my Artfire Studio! This sale starts now and goes through Friday, September 18Th, 8pm Pacific Standard Time!

These are WHOLESALE prices everyone! So come on in and get yourself or a loved one something special today!

If you can't already tell I really wish/need to make some sales AND clear out old inventory! I have a lot of stock and am itching to make more! BUT.. to do that I need to clear out the old to make room for the new.

I'll be the first to admit that I am not a neat freak. My house clutters up for a while and then I'll clean it. I'm just more interested in creating and playing than cleaning. I hate housework and refuse to "Spring Clean". BUT when fall hits this amazing thing happens, Fall Cleaning! As the weather turns cool and the days get shorter I get began to get a nesting urge. By Thanksgiving the house has been cleaned and organized from top to bottom! I think it is because my loved ones and I will be cooped up staring at the same walls for the next four, five, six months and I instinctively have to have it all in order to stay sane and make the long winter months more comfortable and enjoyable for us all. Can anyone else relate to this and do any of you do it too?

Best Friends

A picture of the pendant I wrapped last night with my new gold filled wire. I am trying to decide on a name for it. Champagne Brunch? Champagne Elegance? Champagne & Gold?
What is your opinion?


Best friends are the sisters we never had. In the past year I have been lucky enough to start re-connecting to my best friends for high school.


For out twentieth year class reunion we all pitched in and rented a room on the coast and got together and had fun. It was so amazing. The only time we had spent together was a few hours at out tenth year reunion. Some of us had kept in touch but I know I hadn't. Yet it was as if we had never been apart!

And last summer one of the first friends I made in high school was looking at stuff in my booth. When she looked at me and I her we recognized each other instantly. "I know you!"

She still lives here in the same town and we have chuckled over the irony of managing to not run into each other for twenty one years. Her ex-husband is the brother of one of my ex's good high school friend and I've know him for several years now. Small world.

Best of all we have come together when we both needed friends. She came over last Thursday and we spent several hours working on my living/bedroom space. She helped me go through at least a dozen bags, boxes and containers of my late daughter's belongings. It's been six months and it is past time to start sorting through stuff. I went through her clothes in August but that's as far as I went.

She is going to come over every Thursday until my upstairs is done. Then we'll probably start somewhere else. It's a great excuse for us to get together. And lucky, lucky me, she is an organizer! I know that when I AM organized I can keep things cleaned up. Every time I've been able to have a well organized home it made keeping that home clean simple and easy. Unfortunately most homes are not well organized for storage and craft nuts!

It was just a few weeks before my daughter's diagnosis that I chose to empty a large storage area and turn it into a small bedroom for her. I am still living in the chaos created by that. I have boxes of stuff stacked that I was not able to do anything with afterwards because we were never home. The little time we did get to spend at home was just enough time to catch our breath so to speak before the next round of hospital and motel stays three hours from home. The last round was July when she went to Heaven exactly seven months to the day of her diagnosis. I have just been procrastinating doing anything at all.

Best friends are a wonderful blessing and I feel they are the sisters we didn't get biologically and I am so blessed with all of my wonderful friends.