AJE Component of the Month Reveal

My name was drawn for the Art Jewelry Elements Component of the Month.  Jennifer Cameron generously gave us some lovely glass headpins.  When mine arrived I was so excited that I forgot to snap a photo of them, so I snatched the photo from the AJE post, though mine is a bit darker blue

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I've got a habit of making long earrings...can't help myself because I just want to jam all the wonderful beads in the that I can.  But this time I forced myself to make shorter ones.

'The Ocean's Daughter' made with Jennifer's beautiful glass headpins, vintage rhinestone spacers, tiny lampwork beads and Vintaj earwires.

Thank you for stopping by.  Please visit the AJE Blog to see what the others made with their headpins. 

A big thanks to Jennifer for hosting and providing the headpins!

Art Jewely Elements Earring Challenge

  It's weeks 15 and 16 of the year-long earring challenge at the Art Jewelry Elements Blog.    

'Edge of the Woods' made with sweet polymer beads from Heather Powers and Vintaj components.

'Dream Catcher' made with polymer beads from Heather Powers and gold-filled chain and earwires.   Check out all the other wonderful earrings at the AJE Blog.   Thank you for stopping by!! I hope you enjoy your Sunday.  

52 Weeks Color

Our assignment this week is to focus on color and how it affects our mood, feelings and perception of our surroundings. 

It seems Spring has finally arrived here after some sleet and cold temps earlier this week.  Across the road from our house is a field which the farmer planted with winter wheat.  Just seeing that sea of green makes me smile.  Our computer room faces the front of the house and I can see the tender shoots of green.  At the end of June the wheat will be golden and swaying in the warm breeze.  What a lovely sight to see. So as you might have guessed, the color I chose is green!

Rows of wheat

The tillering stage where 'leaves' are added and lengthen over time.

A sea of green!

There are 11 stages of growth from the first tender shoot to the ripened stage.

Sometimes, if I'm lucky, the farmer misses some of the wheat along the edge of the field at harvest time, and I will gather it for myself.

Thank you for stopping by.  Please check out Sally's blog to see more color!!!

52 Photos-Out and About

Our assignment this week was to get outside and take our camera with us. Of course the only day I could do this was a rainy day, so I drove rather than walked.

This church has been in our community for a long time.  Unfortunately it was not cared for properly and became unsafe.

They don't build churches like this anymore, and that saddens me.  The congregation built another church right behind this one.  It is a metal building. Now there are trees  and vines growing and choking this old building. 

Matthew 18:20 - For where two or three are gathered in my name, there will I be also.

Thanks for stopping by.  Please visit Sally's Blog to see more.

Art Jewelry Earring Challenge

  It's weeks 13 & 14 for the Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge.  I missed several weeks due to illness and I'm so glad the team let us keep playing along even after our 13 weeks were up.  

'Cinnamon Girl' made with wood beads, lampwork discs from PD Lampwork, Swarovski Crystals and Vintaj components

'Coming Up Green', made with gorgeous green lampwork beads from Something New 4 You, Czech deep cut nuggets, tiny Czech 'meander' beads from arte bella surplus and Vintaj components.

Unfortunately I can't locate either of the lampwork artists. 

Thanks for stopping by. Please check the AJE blog to see what everyone else made this week. Also, check out their pinterest board for earring inspiration.

And if you're looking for my post on Sally's 52 Weeks Focusing On Life Photo just scroll down.

 

52 Photos Aged Beauty

Our assignment is to photograph things with aged beauty. I think Sally's original intention was to share one photo each week, but I'm finding that I can't seem to share just one.  I hope you don't mind.

Sally quotes: 

"Aged pieces have a beauty all their own, a beauty that draws us in to look a little deeper into a past time."  

These are some old books I use for props on my jewelry table at shows. My dad has dozens of them. Some are Swedish, others are hymn books. There is a variety.  I just love these old books and wonder about the people who used them in their daily life.

This book is very fragile but so beautiful. 

Old Things are More Beautiful

(Clay Harrison)

Old things are more beautiful
than many things brand new
Because they bring fond memories
of things we used to do.

Old photographs in albums,
love letters tied with lace
Recapture those old feelings
that new ones can't replace.

Baby shoes, a Teddy bear,
a ring that grandma wore,
Are treasures waiting there behind
a door marked "Nevermore".

Old things are more beautiful,
more precious day-by-day.
Because they are the flowers
we planted yesterday.

Many thanks for stopping by.  Please check Sally's blog to see the other participants.

52 Photos Up Close

Our challenge this week, as you may have guessed, is a macro shot.

It seems like it's taken a long time for Spring to arrive here.  But Tuesday was bright and sunny so I took the opportunity to enjoy the day, and took my camera along. Many of our trees were just now showing some tiny buds.  What better way to celebrate spring than capturing these tiny buds in a photo.

These tiny buds were found on our Japanese Lilac tree.  When it is in full bloom the scent is heavenly. 

These pinkish buds are from one of our Ornamental Pear trees, though the flowers will come out white. 

 

 From our Maple Tree, gorgeous colored buds.

We have about 16 trees in our yard.  In addition to the trees above we have a ginkgo tree, an apple tree, Chinese Elms, Pin Oaks, a Japanese Bloodgood,  and several Austrian Pines.

I think that I shall never see

A poem  lovely as a tree

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain

Who intimately lives with rain

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

~Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have an chance to enjoy nature this weekend!

Please stop by Sally's Blog to check out the other photos for this week's challenge.

Catching Up

In looking back it seems if I've blogged at all it has been about jewelry challenges, and even those have been very few as of late. So let me fill you in on what's going on in my world.

This is a photo of our oldest daughter. She will be 24 on April 21st.  We moved her all the way from Kansas to North Carolina a couple weekends ago.  It was a long, sad ride back to Kansas without her.  She has a wonderful outlook on life, always smiling, never too proud to do silly things, kind, giving and helpful. I will miss her laugh and that wonderful smile. Celebrating Easter without her was a bit difficult, and she will be celebrating her birthday alone this year. I'm so proud of her for wanting to be out on her own, starting a new life in a new place where she knows no one. And I can't wait to hug her the next time we are together.

My dad continues with getting rid of things after my mom passed away.  This was my lunch pail when I was in grade school.  The thermos is missing, and it has several scratches, but I'm so glad my parents kept this for so long.  My twin sister had one similar but it's no where to be found.

I've been eating leftover Easter Candy--a lot!! I love jelly beans but recently found that their shiny coating comes from Shellac, a chemical derived from the excretions of the Kerria Lacca insect.  This coating is also on candy corn and other candy.  I hope I didn't spoil things for you jelly bean lovers.

I bought a Swanstrom Disc Cutter from Rio Grande with my Christmas money.  It came as a kit with a brass mallet, bur life, centering plugs and urethane pad.  Have I used it yet? No.  But one of these days.......

Outside my window the sun is shining and the tender green shoots of wheat in the field across the street is a beautiful sight to see. It reminds me of this Easter hymn:

 Now the green blade rises from the buried grain,
Wheat that in the dark earth many years has lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

In the grave they laid Him, Love Whom we had slain,
Thinking that He’d never wake to life again,
Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

Up He sprang at Easter, like the risen grain,
He that for three days in the grave had lain;
Up from the dead my risen Lord is seen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

When our hearts are saddened, grieving or in pain,
By Your touch You call us back to life again;
Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.