Dragonflies and Earrings

A visitor to a recent photo session

 

 While I was outdoors shooting photos of  new earrings, a dragonfly landed; half-on and half-off the white paper I use as background in my jewelry photos.  I already had my camera set on macro so I could get close-up shots of the earrings.  All I had to do was turn slightly to the left and start snapping.  I love it when serendipity like that happens!

Free Earring Give-Away Winner

Cynthia Burkhardt is the talented woman behind the lens at Cynthia Burkhardt Creative Fine Art Photography & Imaging.  Hop on over to her website to see what she has to offer.  Cynthia:  email me or send me a message through Facebook and I’ll send those earrings on their way!

Fall For These – Autumn Necklace Collection

I’m starting to put away my summer clothing.  “Goodbye sleeveless tops.”  “See you later lightweight capris.” Are you getting out your fall clothing, too?  It’s sad to let go of the last days of summer, but o-o-o, I so love my rust-orange v-neck sweater and the marled violet sweater with flecks of turquoise, yellow and green.  To ease our transition into fall, I have put together a great collection of necklaces that can add an extra spark to your autumn outfits… and make it a little easier to let Autumn back into your life.  Click on any of the pictures below, if you’d like more information about the necklace.

Fall For These

A lady picked up this necklace, at my last art show, and commented, “You can just look at this necklace and see the high quality.  Your work really stands above the other jewelry that’s available here or at most shows.”

Love this one!  Garnets and carnelians are so rich together!

The hand-wired, banded sardonyx kite-shaped pendant is really outstanding here.

The orange beads, with the swirly copper highlights are antique, mouth-blown Venetian glass.  Really unique!

Gifts Of Love

I had a lovely birthday celebration yesterday and feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.  My father took my husband, daughter and me out to lunch.  The restaurant overlooked the harbor and my blackened salmon caesar salad was delicious!  Afterward we all came home and opened gifts.  Shortly afterward, my son called with birthday greetings and then my dear friend, Rose, came by for a little visit.  Later my daughter’s  boyfriend joined us for a dinner of barbecued chicken, prepared by our head cook – my husband (aka:  super chef!).

I was touched by the thought that each person put into their gifts.  Each gift reflected aspects of who I am and what I would appreciate and enjoy.  My husband is getting me a new camera to make blogging and photographing my jewelry easier.  We are still researching various models, but that will be a cherished gift, added to those below.

Isn’t this bowl magnificent? I was almost speechless with joy when I received it!  It’s made locally, by an artist in the Seattle area.

I love flowers!  Our previous home had a large field in the back, in which my husband had planted over 1,000 daffodil bulbs for me, over the years.  I miss those daffodils so much!  We don’t have that much space here, but this gift is from him and includes the labor involved in planting and caring for the flowers.

Did I mention that I love flowers???  I have a small collection of orchids that reside in the bay window of our kitchen.  This will be added to that collection!

A nice check from my dad so I can go shopping – need I say more?

Old school and new school reading!  I love books, but since I enjoy traveling, I think a Kindle is very practical.  Instead of packing 3-4 books in my luggage, I can just bring along my Kindle.  There’s a case that goes along with this, but it hasn’t arrived yet.  The biggest gift here is all the love and care that each person has shared with me – love that is a daily gift in my heart.

10 Things About Getting Older

In honor of my birthday and my all the lovely  friends and readers who have put in more than a few “miles on the odometer”:

ABOUT GROWING OLDER…

• First ~ Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.
• Second ~ The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.
• Third ~ Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know “why” I look this way.  I’ve traveled a long way, and some of the roads weren’t paved.
• Fourth ~ When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra.
• Fifth ~ You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.
• Sixth ~ I don’t know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.
• Seventh ~ One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young.
• Eighth ~ One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.
• Ninth ~ Being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.
• Tenth ~ If you don’t learn to laugh at trouble, you won’t have anything to laugh at when you are old.

(This was sent to me in an email-author unknown)

Birthday gifts laid out on the coffee table. You'll have to wait until the next blog post to find out what's inside!

Fall For These – New Jewelry

What is your favorite time of year?  I feel a rush of excitement every Autumn.  I just love all the fall colors.  I love to see them, wear them and I love  to design autumn colored jewelry!  Today my camera captured some of  the first hints of autumn.

There is a wonderful collection of autumn jewelry at Linda Landig Contemporary Artisan Jewelry, called Fall For These.  Today I added a pair of earrings, a bracelet and a necklace to the Fall For These collection.

The neutral colors in this pair of earrings makes them immensely wearable and the gun-metal chain makes them just a little edgy.  The gun-metal chain in these earrings was part of a purse, in its previous life.  I liked the purse better as a clutch bag, so I got out the wire cutters and chopped off the chain!  Now the chain finds new life in some of my jewelry!  Just doing my part to recycle!

This new bracelet uses a red focal bead I purchased at the Pacific Northwest Bead Festival.  I love how one side is punctuated by a single wooden bead.

This necklace was the last thing I added to my shop today.  I had so much fun making this!  Asymmetrical design is a big trend in jewelry and it’s harder to pull off than you might think.  An asymmetrical necklace has the pleasing quality of pulling your eyes around the whole necklace to discover all the surprises.  But, at the same time, it has to have some sense of balance, which can be achieved by including repeating elements.  I’ve included repeated elements of jasper and brass which work in harmony with the fantastic fossilized ammonite pendant.

Don’t forget to add a comment to this post so you can be entered in my free earring give-away.  Details are here.

Monday Meanderings: Birthday Dreams and Goals For The Next Year

Newborn Linda, with Necklace

 

 Baby Jewelry 

 Yup, that’s me, 50-some years ago.  Wasn’t I adorable?  Please note that even though it was only my first-day debut, I was already wearing a necklace!  The design work and originality leave something to be desired.  All the other newborns had the same ones, but with different names on them.  However, that just shows that my artistic sensibilities have matured over the years, with my passion for jewelry having been instilled at a very young age!  

It’s My Birthday! 

My birthday is this week and that’s got me thinking about what my dreams and wishes are for the upcoming year.  I will feel I’m moving in the right direction, if I can accomplish most of the items on this list.  

• Develop my web shop by keeping the inventory fresh, and increasing the traffic to my shop.
• Blog at least 3 times a week and offer entertaining, informative and inspiring content for my readers.  Your comments will help me know if I’m on track or not.
• Develop meaningful connections with other bloggers and artists.
• Submit a design to a jewelry magazine, (There, I said it out-loud.  Now I can’t let fear hold me back.  You can encourage me and hold me accountable for doing this!)
• Read more for pleasure.
• Lose weight.  Oh yah, that, again!
• Spend more time with friends and family.
• Develop my photography skills.

I’m going to look back a year from now and see how I’m doing.   

The first picture in today’s post is of me, as a baby.  I’m going to conclude with another baby picture:  that of my grandson; the next generation!   

Don’t forget to comment on this post so your name can be entered in the free earring give away.  See yesterday’s post for all the details.   

My grandson and I, May 2010