A Leap of Love

I am excited!! I am going to be in a wedding in the UK in July!! Yep,that's right.
Going to be walking down the aisle. Right smack dab in the middle of the brides bouquet. You read right. In the middle of the bouquet.
Had a lovely customer named Emily purchase "My tiny leap for houndkind" pin which is pictured here.

She is getting married in July, and she had this to say,

"I deliberately went for your pin because I have been searching high and low for a whippy item that I could incorporate into our big day & to be honest so many of the other whippy bits and pieces I've seen the dogs are really ugly! I then saw your pin and it reminded me so much of my beautiful boy Bailey that I knew it would be perfect to add to my bouquet so that I could have him close to me on the day.

I got Bailey from whippet rescue and had him for 8 years, he was my pride and joy and the absolute love of my life, he was without a doubt my soul mate. Tragically whilst my mum was looking after him for me for a few days he was hit by a car and killed instantly.

Although this has been the cruelest of blows for me I am slowly learning to remember him and smile and that is exactly what I will be doing on the 4th July this year as I walk up the aisle!I have also named all of our tables after our pets and the top table is called Bailey after my little man."



I really love being a "part" of peoples lives in ways I never would have imagined.
The image of that pin actually is a bit of digitally altered art from, would you believe it, the 14th century! To me its such a timeless piece of art that seems to have such a modern look to it and captures the joy of a hound freely leaping through the wide open spaces. It has such a happy feel to it and I am glad that Emily chose it to remember her Bailey on her special day.

Seems like no matter where we are in the stream of time, that bond we have with our pooches will always be there, as will true love of the human kind.
So while we are on the subject of romantic love, thought I would share a postcard from the late 1800's.
We often hear comments these days of "Where are our youth headed" these days.
Well if this image is depicting anything of life back then, think this pair got quite an early start down the road called "TROUBLE"!

Be afraid, very afraid....

I for one, have never understand the morbid fear of dentists. Whats the big deal?? Not that I have really enjoyed my trips through the years to keep up the pearly whites, but really nothing to stress about. I guess you could compare my attitude to be similar to the woman in the early 1900's toothpaste postcard.

Well, OK probably not that sedate and contemplative. Who knew brushing the teeth could be such a deep moving experience?
I guess being the blind optimist that I am, I figured all of our dental encounters would leave us with fresher breath, whiter whites and stronger healthier teeth. We might even come away with such a positive experience that we would be much like this young woman who went in to have dental surgery and came out smiling even though they stitched her finger to her gums.

But this week has changed everything. All my growling at my husband, who has a phobia about anything medical, "Quit being such a baby, its just the dentist". Or telling friends who faced extractions, "Aw, you'll be fine. That's what they make vicodin for".
Having had all three of my older children as well as myself have wisdom teeth pulled, I was not at all worried about my 18 year old son having his pulled out on Monday. Worst was I was going to have to kill about 2 hours waiting and getting him situated back home. After all, the oral surgeon said they were very easy teeth and it was going to be a piece of cake.

So when they finally called me back ,I waltzed leisurely into the discharge area. There he sat still barely able to open his eyes. I turned my attention to the nurse who began to spill out all the instructions. Along with the tidbit,"Oh,and he swallowed some gauze" without missing a beat. I looked back at my son and observed what to me appeared to be an impression of a drunken pelican trying to swallow a whole fish. I interrupted the nurse and asked "Did the gauze go down? Why is he swallowing like that?".
"Oh, he is just probably really dry" and went on to more instructions, like gauze of all things, and salt water rinses. As she rose to open the exit door, my steady peer at my son fighting to swallow became more apparent. I told her I was not comfortable leaving as it appeared something was wrong.
So she proceeds to try and get him to drink some water which leaves him choking and gasping for air. They take him back to a room,send me back to waiting room and an hour later come back and tell me he is fine now. So I gather up his things and we head home. Granted,he didn't seem to be gulping anymore.

That night at home when we tried to have him eat or drink, it always ended up the same way. After a few sips, he coughed everything up. I did some research on google and seemed to come away that swallowing can be a difficulty after oral surgery and just figured this was what he was dealing with. Stupid me.
In the morning on Tuesday I checked on him very early to find out that it was still happening. Few sips and he would feel it all build up in his chest and he would cough everything out.
Now a frantic call to oral surgeon was placed. Next thing I know we are whisking him to hospital to have an endoscopy. And lo and behold...gauze. Because I am just plain weird I am posting the actual picture of the endoscopy and the offending gauze.

On the upside,the oral surgery went great. No swelling,bruising,and hardly any pain.
Just a near choking death incident. What more could you ask for??

This Blogs for you...or Its a Family affair

I am going to take a step back from the imaginary world I love to live in when I write my blogs or even create my jewelry. Oh,well ok...its just the world I live in all the time. There! I admitted it.

Anyway, my humour always has a way of getting me through things. But I guess I just felt like sharing things from a different angle today.

Have been busy taking care of somethings in relation to one of my grown sons who is schizophrenic. I will spare the details as anyone who is not familiar with mental illness will think that I am back in my imaginary world writing about it.

So let me start out by saying, if you know anyone, I mean anyone, who suffers with mental illness themselves, or has it in their family or group of friends, go hug them. They deserve it and need it. And then go learn all you can about it so you can be a support.

I think its because of all this, I was deeply moved by a little note that a customer wrote on her jewelry order the other day.


She bought the necklace below



And wrote the following little note on her order:

"I love and collect vintage mohair teddy bears~ am expecting my first child, and want this as a celebratory token~"

I can't even tell you how poignant I find that. I often get emails or little notes from my customers about their purchase and they all mean so much to me. But this one...I just feel honored to be a part of this woman's wonderful journey of a new life that will bring her so much joy and happiness.
Maybe I am really giving this silly little necklace that has the tag "believe" on it too much credit, but that's the way it made me feel.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to say "Thank you for making my day" to this wonderful customer, and thanks to those of you who are my family. You know who you are. Thanks so much for your support and for helping me to above all things to keep "believing".

Creative cooking of the past

So I have been reading a few cooking blogs lately.

Amazing how hungry you can get reading the web. So many interesting foods to try that weren't readily available years ago. Not to mention the tools and gadgets we have to make our job easier.
Years ago, those who had a passion for cooking truly threw themselves into their work.
Their whole mind, heart and even their body oozed creativity in their cooking.

Take for example Smella and Olga Johansen. Their passion was creating pastry and tasty sweets.
Their speciality was the fruit fillings and frostings they often used in their desserts.

Not only did they spend much time dreaming up the flavors, but when it was time to fill or frost, they put on their special filler frosting suits.

Then they would fill them up to the point of almost bursting, and just throw themselves into their creativity,writhing and rolling on the floor using the tops of the hat like cone to fill the delectable treats. And to think we have it so easy these days. True artists they were in their own time.

They were fortunate enough to have others to encourage them on in their craft. Those who shared their love and passion for creating works of edible art. Their best friend, Smirna who lived down the street was one such person. When she baked a cake, she threw herself in it...literally.

Here she is after having used her body as a beater for blending some cake batter. Notice the precise way she held her fingers for hours at a time. This allowed her to get excellent mixing of ingredients while at the same time looking very exotic.

Truly inspiring woman they were. So much so that they left their mark on their little town, and did much to help those younger then them to realize that indeed, you could follow your dreams and accomplish much.

I often think of these great woman of the past. These woman who used every fiber of their being to throw themselves, mind,body,and heart into their creations. Could they be my distant relatives??

Very often I get a strange feeling come over me. Usually after I have super glued my fingers together while making jewelry. Really makes you wonder.

Ooh,ooh,**waves hand*** pick me pick me

So a short little blurb, and I gotta make it quick. Loads of work on my desk, jewelry to ship out, yada yada. Biggest reason to be fast is I am a great indie procrastinator. Thats right. I proudly independently procrastinate all by myself.
And for that very reason, I almost am not going to make the deadline to write a blog about a great little indie radio station. You know the one I am talking about. Come on. Sure you do.
http://www.blockheadradiolive.com/ Yeah thats the one.

Winning a commercial would be a trip. It says it would be right here.
http://blockheadradio.blogspot.com/2009/01/need-some-free-advertising-you-bet-you.html


And it would also be a trip to wear a jammin frog playing a flute pin while dreamin of jammin while winning the commercial.

So I did it. Made it before the deadline came falling down on me. Now I can go back to being an indie procrastinator. All I have to figure out is what task I want to put off next.

Can you grow a bird planting birdseed?

I deviate a bit from my vintage image mania in honor of our fine feathered friends.
Ah,birds. They add so much to our lives. So much wonder, so much joy. Its hard to imagine life without them,isn't it? I often use birds as inspiration for my jewelry. Sometimes bringing out the humorous side of birds.

One popular pair are my lady crow just out of rehab earrings. They look like this:

And the story behind them goes like this:"I know this little lady crow looks so very sweet in her little bonnet hat. But no one knows she just got out of rehab. Its another case of those darn berries. The berries have a hold on her. I remember when I was little the evergreens around my house always got these red berries on them late fall into winter.They looked so yummy but my Mom always said, "Oh,no! People can't eat those. You could get very,very sick."And then she would always go on to tell me how the birds would get drunk off those berries. For some reason it just made me want to try those berries even more.I think this crow has issues and just can't lay off the berries. Maybe a change of environment would do her good."

Funny thing is I sell alot of those earrings. People seem to relate to them. Shows the strong bound that we humans have with birds. But then again maybe they are relating to rehab.

But the truth of the matter is that sometimes you really have to keep an eye on birds. They do have some strange habits. I know this to be a fact. I myself own a couple. One of them, my red lory Cinta, seems to have a fetish for wearing empty toilet paper tubes. No lie. His own little private means of escape I believe. Shutting out the rest of the world. Probably on to something . I've even uncovered the cage some mornings to find him sound asleep on the bottom of the cage with the tube on his head. Guess he has his own way of tying one on.

Still you have to admit it takes intelligence to figure out how to put the thing on his head, don't you think. I had to look up how to spell intelligence by the way.
Their little brains can be mind boggling at times. I think that being called a "bird brain" could actually be a compliment. But then again, after my repeated attempts to squeeze my head in the toilet paper tube, I could have done some permanent damage.

However I do want to offer you some proof positive about the intelligence of birds. Should you care to explore the subject here are a few links for you to enjoy.

1. Caledonian crow who makes tools. Be sure to watch video on link.

2. Bird stealing money from car wash.

3. Bird uses bait to fish.

I really could go on and on, but it just goes to show that birds are to be not only watched, but admired. Probably why I have so many pieces of jewelry that have birds in my shop. So people can look at them everywhere they go. And learn from them.

Of course, I guess they have their moments like most of us. Even though owls, and the word wise seem to go hand in hand, sometimes life gets the best of them too. Here's a final little amusing French clip of an owl who has probably seen better days...or nights.

Crazed Women and Monday Mornings

I decided to cancel my appointment with my trainer at the gym this morning as I woke up very dizzy. I mean like crash back down to the pillow dizzy.
Been sneezing up a storm so I think its allergies or something.

So while taking it easy this morning, I decided to take some time drinking my coffee and do some leisurely reading on the Internet.
Stumbled upon a very nice, interesting blog called Vintage Indie
Had a great post about keeping your kids room clean.

While reading it I suddenly thought about my code red earrings.
These earrings were created on a day when I probably wouldn't be able to be rational about cleaning a kids room. You know the days,please tell me you do.
When the hormones are just a bit out of kilter. Setting fire to the house seems like a great alternative to organizing.

It was on a day like that I created the code red earrings to be worn as a warning signal to those you love to back off. Either back off or deal with a tongue lashing. I used as a basis for these earrings a postcard from the early 1900's featuring a woman dressed as a snake. Or was that a snake dressed as woman.
Its amazing how this hormonal disruption of the universe has influenced several postcards I came across.
Here is one where an actual snake stupidly decided to try and take on a very hormonal woman.


Think this womans hormonal problem is too much tetosterone. Whew,take a trip to the day spa honey. It may do you some good.


The next postcard is, I have to admit a bit disturbing. What animal would do such a thing to a woman?? And what kind of a woman would allow such a thing??



In this case this woman seems a bit to sedate. I suspect foul play is at hand here.
After all would you sit quietly if your lips had just been clamped closed? The poor woman has either been ged or given a lobotomy of some sort. So I think its OK to take the clamp off now.

I offer one final proof that if the woman with the clamp was still a threat due to hormonal imbalance, she would be acting more like the woman below.


Hmmm..woman has hard boots,heavy iron poker,raging hormones.
Man has one bare foot,one socked foot,soft leather belt,seems to be smiling.
Cat seems to be looking at man like " You are a fool,get out while you can still breathe."

So you see,on some days, its just best to wear some code red earrings, hole up in a your own private area, and read blogs about how to be a productive human being.
This will make for a much safer environment for all.