Moving the printer out of the new bead room.

Then we moved my things into the room, including the drawers from my antique Hamilton printers cabinet.

Drawers from my antique Hamilton printers cabinet.

Our dog, Chochi, supervised the move.

Chochi

The walls were a dull, light brown, so I decided they needed a fresh, light color that would make me feel cheery and peaceful.  I scooted the furniture to the middle of the room, out in the hallway and into the master bedroom.  Then I painted two of the walls a light turquoise blue.

It is hard to photograph yourself painting!

The next day my friend, who loves to paint rooms, came over and we finished the other two walls.

I get by with a little help from my friends.

Now I am slowly bringing my furniture back into the studio from the bedroom and hall.  I’m organizing everything as I put it away.  On one side of the room I have my bead table and it is pretty well organized now.  The other side has my computer desk and some book shelves.  That side still needs working on.  But I think I’m far enough along to share some pictures with you.

Here’s my work table.  The “parking” sign was a gift from my husband for Christmas!

All the art on the walls was done by family members or friends.  It fills me with joy to be surrounded by their creativity.  I haven’t hung everything yet.  There are more photos by my husband, screen prints by my daughter and paintings by my brother. The painting on the right is by Angela Pierce.

The wooden boxes on the right are from IKEA.  I plan to paint them white (furniture and storage painting is phase two of this project).  I also plan to paint my bead table white.

My jewelry work table.

As you can see, I have labeled all the drawers.  Can’t live without my label machine!  The handmade vase above the boxes is filled with pussy willows and was a gift from the friend who helped me with the painting.

Wooden boxes from IKEA

The white shelves on my work table are actually shoe shelves from Fred Meyers (I think that is just an west coast store).  They assemble easily and I use them all over the place.  You’ll see them in my closet, as well.

Shelving on the work table.

The closet holds some of my other crafty interests:  paper crafts, basketry, silk painting (dyeing) supplies.  I used the shoe shelves to extend the storage on the shelf above the clothes railing.  Two of my hand dyed silks are hanging to the right in the closet.  If I have space, I’d like to hang them up on the studio walls.

The closet in my new studio.

My beloved Hamilton printers cabinet is to the left of my work table.  I store all my art beads, pearls, gemstones, seed beads and crystals here. The painting above the cabinet is by Susan England.  It is from our favorite get-away in Costa Rica.  One of my silks hangs to the right of the cabinet and I wove the basket that sits on the floor.

My Hamilton printers cabinet.

The last picture I’m going to share is the light box where I photograph my jewelry for posting in my online shop.  This light box is just the greatest thing!  I can now take pictures in all light conditions!

My desk and computer area are still a mess.  I’ll share pictures of that side of the studio when I’ve got it all organized and clean.

Photo light box.

I hope you enjoyed this little studio tour.  I welcome your comments, suggestions or questions!

Its time for another ♥ I Heart Macro Sunday! ♥

My husband gave me a basket of primroses for Valentines Day.  He knows how much I love them.  They always give me hope that spring is around the corner and they help me get through the long, gray days of February.

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Lori of Studio Waterstone  hosts a weekly blog hop of close-up photos.
Visit Lori to get links to more great macro shots.

I am thrilled to be participating in Lori Anderson’s Bead Soup Blog Party for the third time. Lori pairs up the participants and we swap beads. In “beader-talk”, bead soup is a mixture of different beads.  The bead soup we sent to our partner had to include:

~ A focal (pendant, fancy bead, center of attention)
~ Some coordinating spacers or beads
~ A special clasp (not just a lobster claw)

The challenge then is design something(s) using the beads you were given.

We’ll photograph our creations and we’ll all post the results on March 3rd.  This year’s group will include 200 participants.

Here’s the necklace I created for my first Bead Soup Blog Party.

Blue Iris Necklace

This year I was lucky enough to be partnered with Karen Hess, a beader who is a retired teacher like me.   I encourage you to check out her shop and her blog, Monday Musings.  She is a wonderful designer and I’m glad to get to know her a bit through this partnership.

Karen sent me a delightful bead soup, that arrived beautifully packaged.  Each of these little plastic containers has a gorgeous handmade lid decoration – and no two are alike!  I love it that even after our blog hop is all over, I’ll be able to reuse these lovely containers and they will always make me think of Karen.

Opening up those containers reveals this gorgeous bead soup!

Here’s a close up of the unusual and fun heart pendant.

Some of my favorite beads in the soup:

And here’s the frosting on the cake!  In this pretty envelope was a postcard of the old Olympia Brewery.

When I was a kid, this was the biggest brewery in the state.  It is now defunct and the buildings sit mostly empty.  The brewery is located in a beautiful park-like setting on the Deschutes river.  When I was a kid, my family would drive there from Seattle on special occasions.  I remember rolling sideways down the grassy hills, watching the salmon climb the fish ladders on the Deschutes river and then concluding the day with dinner at the  Falls Terrace Restaurant.   The restaurant and the park are still lovely. I now live only 20 minutes away from the old brewery.  We celebrated my father’s 80th birthday there, 6 years ago.  I wonder how Karen got this postcard?  Check out the groovy bell bottoms on the couple in the picture!

So now it is time for me to get to work/play!  I’ve got a few ideas rolling around in my head, but I’m not yet sure where they will lead me.  Come back on March 3rd to find out!

My 2nd Bead Soup Blog Party design:

P.S.  This is my 200th blog post!

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Visit the BTW Flickr group and see what others have on their  bead tables.

Snowmageddon 

Its time for another ♥ I Heart Macro Sunday! ♥

The big snow storm that hit us in late January has affectionately been dubbed Snowmageddon in the press!  First we had 11 inches of snow in 24 hours, then we had freezing rain, which coated everything with a heavy layer of ice.

The ice was followed by a windstorm with gusts up to 60 mph.  Whole trees snapped under the weight of the ice and the force of the wind.

The ornamental cherry trees that line our long driveway were severely damaged.  A tree toppled down at the end of our road and landed on the overhead electrical wires.

We were without electricity for 3 and a half days—brrr!  We live in a rural area and are on well water, which is pumped to the house via an electric pump, thus we were without, heat, light, telephone, running water or flushing toilets for those 3 and a half days.  We were entirely snowed in for the first two days, so we couldn’t even drive to a warm restaurant for food.

The stuff in our freezer was melting, so my husband gathered up the thawing chicken, and made barbecued chicken soup!  Not many people can claim to have eaten barbecued soup!  He also made barbecued hot tea for us.  I took these pictures when the snow had just started.  My husband took the picture of the downed tree (admittedly not a macro shot), that zapped our electricity.

Chochi has been here.

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Lori of Studio Waterstone  hosts a weekly blog hop of close-up photos.
Visit Lori to get links to more great macro shots.

The Challenge

My friend, Kristi Bowman,  makes the most wonderful copper components with copper metal clay.  If you follow my blog, you’ve seen several of the earrings I’ve made with her copper connectors and charms.

Recently, she started making larger curved pieces to be used as bracelet focals.  Today she is the hostess for the much anticipated Copper Component Blog Hop.  Each participant purchased a bracelet focal from Kristi’s shop, Kristi Bowman Design.

We each set to work, designing bracelets.  Today we get to see what everyone created.  I can’t wait to visit all the blogs!  (see list below)

My Bracelet

I purchased a copper ammonite focal and had a blast choosing beads to go with it.

Ammonite Bracelet

I don’t often make jewelry that is all wired and not strung, but that was what this focal seemed to call for.   I’d also set a goal for myself  to do more jewelry in this style.

I wired a wonderful Out West lampwork (handmade) glass bead next to Kristi’s copper focal.

Lampwork bead by Out West

Then I wired ceramic beads all around and a couple of cool turquoise teardrop shaped beads from Wynwoods Bead Gallery.  I added serpentine, pressed glass and copper bead dangles.  The bracelet closes with a copper lobster claw clasp on one side of the focal.

Rustic Ammonite Bracelet

My Earrings

As I was working on the bracelet, I remembered that I had previously purchased copper ammonite connectors from Kristi.  So I made some coordinating earrings for my bracelet!

Copper Ammonite Earrings

Copper Ammonite Earrings

The “Copper Ammonite Bracelet” and the “Copper Ammonite Earrings” are both available in my shop, Linda Landig Jewelry.

Please show Kristi some cyber love.  Visit her blog and her shop to see all the finished jewelry and copper components this talented lady designs.

Ammonite Bracelet & Earrings

The Blog Hop

Here is a list of the other blog hop participants.  Its fun to see how each person interpreted the same copper focals to design bracelets that express their own unique visions.  Enjoy!

What’s on my bead table today? -The bracelet that I’m working on for this Saturday’s Copper Component Blog Hop.

15 jewelry artisans are designing bracelets utilizing an amazing copper focal piece by the talented Kristi Bowman of Kristi Bowman Designs.

Here is the copper focal that is the centerpiece of my bracelet.

Copper focal by Kristi Bowman

And here is a sneak peek of the bracelet I’m working on.  Come back on Saturday to get a clearer view!

Come back on Saturday!

Here is a complete list of all the participants.  Please come back on Saturday, Feb. 4th to see all the coppery goodies revealed!

Visit the BTW Flickr group and see what others have on their  bead tables today.

Its time for another ♥ I Heart Macro Sunday! ♥

I think this is one of the best pictures I have ever taken and I’m very happy to be able to share it with you today.

Snow melt

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Lori of Studio Waterstone  hosts a weekly blog hop of close-up photos.
Visit Lori to get links to more great macro shots.

…in the studio

If you read the interview with me on the Pacific Northwest ArtFire Guild Blog, it will come as no surprise to you that my work surface is a constant disaster.  I usually have numerous projects going at once.  And I’d rather design jewelry than clean up after myself.  I did include a studio picture with the interview and it looks half-way decent, but I neatened things up before taking that picture.

So I’m coming clean about not being clean.  Here’s how the studio really looks!

How do I even find what I am working on????  Here’s a close up of the mess on the left.

Messy table top with handmade jewelry in progress.

Here’s the little blue bowl that is on the upper right in the picture above.

Work in progress

These bracelets were commissioned by a friend’s mother.  Her mother had bought a similar bracelet from me and received compliments from her friends.  So she decided she wanted to gift her friends with matching bracelets.  The only problem was that I couldn’t find the exact same black and pink floral beads – I only had 1 left in my stash.  These are similar and I hope they will be OK, (I do like the originals better, though).

I’ve finished one bracelet and just have to add the clasp to the second one.

Black and pink custom bracelet

Here are a pair of heart earrings I am working on.  I don’t like that extra silver ring above the heart.  It looks too gangly to me.  I may remove it.  What do you think?

Heart and lampwork earring (Lampwork by Radiant Mind)

And last of all, I’m already laying out ideas for a heart necklace.  The photo makes the ceramic heart look blue, but it is really lavender and it pairs well with this lampwork bead, which I’ve had for a long time, (unfortunately I no longer remember who made it).

Ceramic heart (by Bohulleybeads) and lampwork glass bead

Well now you have the truth of the matter.  I make pretties while I act disorderly!

(source: Pinterest)

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Visit the BTW Flickr group and see what others have on their  bead tables.

Its time for another ♥ I Heart Macro Sunday! ♥

I had these pine cones on display for Christmas.  I love their spiraling patterns and wanted to share them with you, for your Macro Sunday enjoyment.  And now that I’ve shared them, I can pack them away until next year.

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Lori of Studio Waterstone  hosts a weekly blog hop of close-up photos.
Visit Lori to get links to more great macro shots.

I’ve been having fun making earrings with lampwork glass head pins.  Basically this means that a glass artist formed the molten glass around a thin metal wire.  For example, in the earrings below, Susan Kennedy of Sue Beads, created the mango colored rounds with a thin vertical metal wire sticking up from the top.  I strung on the blue ceramic beads and topped them with small carnelians.

Mango Delight Earrings

Then I wrapped a loop with that wire at the top and attached it to the brass ear wires.  I love these cheerful earrings.  They’d be awesome with jeans, but they’d go with anything blue, brown, beige, rust or orange.  I titled these the “Mango Delight” earrings and they are in my shop now.

Mango Delight Earrings

This next pair of earrings also features glass head pins from Sue Beads.  Sue called these blue rounds “Snow Flowers” and you can see why.  The pattern that has been pressed into the glass could be interpreted as either a flower or a snowflake, making them a great year round choice.

Crystal Blue Earrings

I topped the glass head pins with lampwork glass (handmade glass) by another talented glass artist, Jenelle Aubade of Beads and Botanicals. When you peer into these beads they are miniature wonders, full of swirling baby blue, cobalt blue and clear glass encasing.  I topped Jenelle’s beads with light blue Swarovski crystals.  The ear wires are sterling silver.  The “Crystal Blue” earrings are also in my shop now.

Crystal Blue Earrings

Interview on the

Pacific N.W. ArtFire Guild Blog

I was recently interviewed on the Pacific Northwest ArtFire Guild Blog.  My interviewer, Linda Steider of Steider Studios asked excellent questions and the whole thing turned out quite nicely.  If you’d like to learn more about my background and design process visit:

Studio Spotlight – Linda Landig, Artisan Jewelry