Dauphin Island Festival to Oil Spill

I spent this last weekend at one of my favorite shows of the year...The Dauphin Island Art Show. It's a mini-getaway weekend for me. I get to spend some time on a beautiful island with my friend Lisa in her home on the Island. This Festival with it's gorgeous island weather was overshadowed by the coming oil slick that threatens their Coastline as well as our own here in Biloxi. It weighed on the minds of everyone who lives there and those who frequent the Island.

The Gulf of Mexico waters sustain so much for us here. We have tourism, fishing, seafood and definitely not least all, the wildlife we are a habitat for. The total damages won't even be known for a long time to come.

I have been watching with horror the events of the past 10 days. I can't believe we can't even shut this thing down and as it grows, the damage it will do to everything in it's path. It breaks my heart to even contemplate the loss.

On the bright side, residents of all the Coastal States are stepping up to volunteer to help with the clean-up, including me. I have signed up at oilspillvolunteers.com as well as Audubon Pascagoula River Center. I am hoping my background will make a valuable volunteer, but I will do whatever is asked of me to help.

I hope this opens eyes to the fact that we need to find a better energy source. The oil companies have us by the throat because we let them. We all need to be more proactive with pushing a better way, be it wind turbines, natural gas or solar energy. I don't believe that the tragedy in the Gulf should have been a "risk" worth taking.

I will be offering a percentage of my sales to a recovery effort yet to be determined. I will keep you informed in the next day or so when I decide how to proceed.

Studio Clean Up - Final Day

Here we are...the last day, yeah right...! Tomorrow, I tackle the file cabinets. Nothing fun to see there...lol...! I'll be shredding for weeks..!

Photo 1 is the laser printer in the corner. I decided to turn it and make it more accessible. I really like the change...!

Here is the over view of the computer desk and printer all cleaned up as well as a view of the entire studio. Look how much room I have reclaimed over the last few days....! I am so glad I decided to tackle this project. I want to thank Cat Therien again for prompting this organization frenzy...! It will be so much fun to create in this space again...! Thanks for coming along...!

Before and After. If you look real close...you can see my dog Max in the left photo and Elvira in the right. This new set up will make it soo much easier to step around them...lol.

Spring Studio Cleaning Day 3

Here is what I am tackling today. This is probably the hardest day. I have to put all my little pieces and parts back into their containers and make my desks usable again. I try to do this task about once every 6 weeks or or..or it gets very unwieldy.
I have 2 desks on either side of the black chair so I can turn from one desk to the other. I used to use the first desk for my polymer work, but I end up using it more than the one facing the wall.

I ended up moving that entire table from the side of the desk underneath the "big" table. That opened up a ton of space in my studio as well as let me keep all my polymer clay "stuff" all in one place. I love the new look...! I will post that photo tomorrow.
The last photo is part of what I am tackling tomorrow. The corner printer table and my computer desk..yikes..! Thanks for coming along...!

Spring Cleaning Part 2

Ok...Spring Cleaning Day 2...! I tackled my bookcases...! What a mess..! I have ceramic stuff and pieces of glass and other stuff that doesn't belong.

Here is the shelf and table (that was covered in boxes the day before) I have my polymer clay oven and pasta maker set up on the table. I realize that the shelf doesn't "look" organized, but it is. I have my polymer clay canes and pieces on the top shelf in the plastic containers. I still have my fused glass "stuff" on the middle two shelves.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a before picture of this bookcase. You can see how much room I reclaimed with it's clean-up. This last photo is what I am tackling next. My jewelry tables. The computer desk and printer desk will be tackled another day...!

Studio Spring Cleaning

I was inspired by a fellow artisan Cat Therien who in the process of doing a Studio Cleanup. Cat is a very talented polymer clay. She is an inspiration to me with that as well...! Cat is on day 3 of her studio clean up. I tackled my closet area yesterday. The first photo is the closet. I have an awesome storage closet. It has all these shelves and open space on the right. This photo is taken after I had taken all the boxes off the top shelf and cleaned out the right side to some degree, so you don't really get the full filthy effect..lol.

These are all the boxes that came off the top shelf of the closet as well as some fabric that has been there forever. Don't ask my why I keep alllll these boxes. I guess I think that someday, I will need them all. This table held my light box up to now. I wanted to reclaim some of that space for my polymer clay, fused glass work, and eventually my earth clay. I have a tray of glass pieces below the table as well as 25lb box of earth clay.

This is how the closet looked after I finished the clean up. I have all my jewelry boxes and bags on the top shelf. All my packing materials is organized on the second shelf to the bottom as well as some of the things I need for my shows. I will show a photo of the closet after the clean up is over. Some of the book case "stuff" has found its way back into the closet, but it is still organized.



All non-jewelry related crafts put away in plastic containers. Things in those containers...markers, paints, inks, more paints.

This is how the light box is set up on the right side of the closet.

Can it be...?? Getting Ready for Valentine's Day Already..?

Can it be...? I was thinking the other day that I really need to start to get ready for Valentine's Day. Of course, I do have a time crunch. I will be out of commission for about a week at the end of the month. I have to have surgery on my wrist and won't be making jewelry for a couple of weeks...what ever am I going to do..??? Probably go stir crazy....lol...! Hence the early start to the Holiday.
These little beauties will be available in my Artfire studio very shortly. Perfect for Valentine's Day.

Happy 2010..!!

Happy New Year everyone...! Yikes, it's been another couple of months since my last post. When I started my blog, I wanted to make weekly posts...that didn't quite happen. My best intentions didn't come to pass...kind of like what happens with most New Year's resolutions...we make them on January 1 and by January 15th....March 15th...maybe we make it a bit longer...but most times, we fall short of what it is we want to change. It maybe isn't because our desire to keep up changes, but life and job change and disrupt our routine and it gets harder to adjust.
2009 was a difficult year for a lot of people in the US and even around the world. We've seen huge economic changes that have altered the way we live and the way we view our lives and what's important and necessary in them.
Hurricane Katrina was another life altering point for me. I was out of work for 3 months and we were dealing with cleaning up our Coast and our own back yards. It was shortly there after that I realized that I wanted to turn my love for jewelry and jewelry making into something more. It has been one heck of a ride....one that is not over, by any means. I have come a long way in how I do business and how I make jewelry. I have made huge mistakes in business along the way and made great strides. 2009 was a huge test for my business. I am still standing.
I hope 2010 brings everyone lots of love, health and joy. I hope we all find what we need to live full lives with all our loved ones around us. Thank you for listening to my ramblings in 2009 and I hope you'll be back for another year.