Scrambling can be fun!!

It's been a really hectic week here. We had lots to do and it seems like the time just flew by! We had a family get together last Sunday and we got to see our cousins that we had not seen in a really long time. It was fun! Thank goodness for Facebook, now we can all keep in touch! 

It was also nice that my Gram was able to join us. There were a few pictures that I've been wanting to take in the past few years and the timing just never worked out. We were never all together, or the kids were out playing or I forgot my camera, you get the idea. Sunday, everything just fell into place.  Although there was food on the stove cooking, and guests arriving, and a flurry of activity going on in every room, I insisted on TWO MINUTES of time. It was a well spent two minutes. 

My Grandmother is 87 years old, and the youngest great grandchild is 3, so this is exactly what I wanted to capture in our family Generations photo. This is our "Circle of Life". My grandmother, my mother, me, my sister, my daughter, and my nieces. There are boys in the family too, but this picture was important to me to take of just the girls. Thanks so much to my husband for allowing me to set it up and then standing above us on a chair to take it! :) 

Another favorite photo of the day was this one of my grandmother and her 6 great grandchildren. I'm so glad that they will all have this memory of her as they grow up! 

 

After the party, I turned my attention to jewelry designing to get ready for the Home show that I am doing on Sunday. Here's a few of the last minute things I designed for the show!

Both of the above bracelets are on HOLD for a customer. 

And here are a few that I did yesterday of my more simpler designs without lampwork glass. I like to have a variety of things available for people who are attending a show, that are not in the market to purchase glass art. 

But there was time for one more Glass piece before I gave up for the night! 

Surf's Up!

There may be enough time for me to make a few more pieces before the big day, but getting ready for a show is not all about the designing. There's a lot to pull together and I have a VERY MESSY designing space right now! I have to clean that up! Which can also be fun, because when I clean, sometimes I find more fun beads to play with! :)

Sunflowers

This weekend my hubby took the boys on a little overnight camping trip. So it was just me and my daughter! How fun! I wanted to do something besides sit around in the house, so we went out on Saturday night, hit a couple of stores to browse with Auntie Amy, and then went to On The Border for Mexican. On Sunday, we got up early to drive to Griswold, CT for "Sunflower's for Wishes"

WHAT A SIGHT!! Sunflowers (and Calla's) are my favorite flowers. I love everything about them. And to a Sunflower lover, this was the place to be!!

Here are a few of my favorite photo's from the day...

I played with this one in Photoshop... I LOVE this picture!! Both ways, color and Black and white!

Here's just a portion of the huge field, there was actually a whole other section on the opposite side of the road as well. 

We stopped for lunch on the way home too. It was some much needed Mother Daughter bonding time. And I know I had fun! She said she did too. We'll have to do this again sometime soon! :)

And the winner is....

Oh  my gosh, I'm so excited!! CATHY, you are the winner!

Cathy wrote: "I am inspired by my girls - they have such a huge curiosity for everything. They fascinate me!"

I couldn't agree more! My kids are truly an inspiration for me as well.  They look at things with such innocence and it's amazing what creative minds that children have.

They are all little artists in their own special way! 

And guess what else? It's Cathy's birthday today!

Congratulations and Happy Birthday Cathy!! 

Don't worry, I have your address...I will be sending out your necklace tomorrow! :)

Thanks so much to everyone for submitting some wonderful answers! I'm so honored that you took the time to comment and be part of this with me! 

I hope you can take away something from everyone else's comments and find a new way to inspire yourself to create something fabulous!

Another heat wave's headed our way...

Talking about the weather when you live in New England is almost inevitable. There's so much inconsistency that it makes me crazy at times! We had a heat wave last week, and it's working it's way back this week. Today we have pouring rain and thunderstorms. When it's humid outside, I like to be INSIDE with the air conditioner on. Yesterday I sat in my office with my Diet Coke, my friend Allyson (and Miss Reese, of course) and my CD player going and I HAULED on bracelets!! 

I made two custom orders, here's a look at one of them made with Jenelle's FABULOUS focals!

I can get more of these beautiful focals from Jenelle too if anyone is interested in a similar style. Available for custom order, just email me! 

Next are three bracelets that I made with Jena Fulcher's AWESOME beads! I decided that I could make one really funky wrapped charm bracelet or share the wealth. Each is similar but different in it's own special way. Here are some preliminary photos, to be retaken outside once the sun shines!

This one is called "Sublime Key Lime"

Here's the sister to this one "Sublime Key Lime II" (until I can think of something better)

And the last is called "Blue Hawaiian"

These will be listed up on Etsy tomorrow, once I get some outside pictures which will truly show off the sparkle in these awesome bracelets! 

I'm in the mood to move on to more fall colors now... so the other bracelet that I made will be posted tomorrow because the picture is too blurry. LOL! I'm a perfectionist! Can you tell? ;) It is made with some beautiful earthy colored Kazuri Beads and Swarovski Crystals.
Last chance to enter for the giveaway!! Get those comments in and check back tomorrow night to see if you've won! 

I tried something new, and you can win it!

Sometimes I see things flashing by me, either on the TV or on someone walking by on the street or in the store and I think to myself..."that's really cool, I'd like to try that". Sometimes I jot it down, or draw myself a picture of the way I'd like to try to design it myself and make it my own. Sometimes I rip pictures of colors, flowers, food and fabrics out of magazines and pin them up on the inspiration board in my office. I have them organized by season. Then I refer back to them when I'm stuck for an idea. I'm constantly inspired by the things around me. Flowers, paint swatches, food, the ocean. I pull color schemes and ideas from these things, and I find myself naming my pieces after them as well.

As far as designs, I subscribe to only two magazines. Step by Step Wire, and Bead and Button. Love to flip through them and teach myself a new technique. Sometimes  I go to the bookstore and look through Bead Trends and Stringing. Those are my other two favorites. There are so many different styles of jewelry and it's just so nice to see so many talented people all doing their own thing. 

I can't remember exactly where I saw something similar to this design I was thinking about in my head. I have that Wig Jig thing, and I never use it. I made this with my pliers. Ideally, to make this perfect for ME, I would add some of Jenelle's Lampwork Organic Seeds to this funky wrapped design, but for this practice run I used some really pretty Jade that I picked up at the Gem Show earlier this year. Then I wrapped the top and bottom loops with seed beads (which is my new favorite thing to do). 

I added a little drop charm to the bottom as well and strung it on a Steel Cable.

After I finished I reviewed it and made notes on how I can improve on it for the next time. It's not perfect but since it is really pretty, I thought that I could give it away!

Anyone think they would like to give it a good home? Here's what you have to do to enter to win it: 

1.  First you have to sign up to follow my Blog. I have over 400 followers on Facebook, but only 53 here so let's see if we can bump that up. (If you feel so inclined, you can also follow me on Twitter (MJMJD), and/or sign up to receive my newsletter - right here on the blog).

2.  Once you sign up to follow the blog, leave me a comment on this post telling me what your main source of inspiration is. You don't have to design jewelry, but I'm sure that people take inspiration from things for all sorts of different creative outlets. Tell me what your favorite is! I'm curious if people go about it the same way that I do and I'm sure there are many more ways that people use their creative minds out there. I'd love to hear your thoughts! You all inspire me too! :)

I'll assign all the comments a number and next Wednesday, July 14th at 6pm, I'll draw a winner at random and send you this cool necklace! (Free shipping for US residents only, please!). So go ahead, start commenting! :)

A Happy Fourth!

This is one of my favorite holiday's to celebrate. Good food, friends and FIREWORKS!! I've loved them for as long as I can remember. The big BOOM is my favorite part. I've taken some great firework pictures over the years but not this year. For the past few years, we've been enjoying my neighbors fireworks display (which he sets off in our yard). And this year, it just didn't do it for me. So next July 4th, I'm on a mission to see some good fireworks again! 

But the whole day wasn't bad... we went to my sister's house to swim for the day! The kids had a BLAST! 

Thanks to my sister for letting us enjoy this beautiful day poolside!