I Heart Macro - It's Sunday!!

It's Sunday and that means it's time for
"I Heart Macro" over at Studio Waterstone with Lori Plyler and the group.



Go check it out - you will not be sorry!!

Halloween Mummy
Since it's the day before Halloween
*** My FAVORITE Holiday!! *** 
I thought I'd share some 
Autumn colors and a few 
"Halloween-ish" sights!

Scary Halloween Spider!


Beautiful "Halloween Orange" Flower


October Leaves

Halloween Pumpkin - Up Close!


Enjoy!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Happy (almost)
All Hallow's Eve!

We Three Pumpkins,.....


Cheers,
~Shel~

Friday's Fab Fav's

Happy Friday Folks!!

My Fabulous Fav's for this Friday are all about education - bead, jewelry or gem related education - but education none the less!



1st up there's Beaducation.com.
and this site is jam-packed with tons of cool tools and jewelry components for stamping,
drilling and working with various metals



There's loads of inspiration on their site and they have (in my opinion) the best online videos and jewelry tutorials out there - both free and ones you can purchase.  They're Beaducation Blog is also packed with oodles of information, videos, tips and inspiration! 


Next up this week is Alyson B. Stanfield's Art Biz Blog.
Alyson's the author of the ever so popular book "I'd Rather Be In The Studio" (Pentas Press)



She's also the 'no-excuses, get it done now' Art Biz Coach who believes in self-promotion and no excuses (as I mentioned) and uses her years of experience as a museum curator (among other fascinating jobs) to steer you in the right direction if you're serious about making a living with your art. 

Not for the faint of heart, this is instense stuff worth reading, watching, learning and growing with! 



And last, but certainly not least, we have the




(You were warned there'd be info on my fav organic gemstone quite frequently - you were warned!!) 

Photo by Michelle Buettner


Established in 2003, with more than 3000 participating members and more than 30,000 pages of pearl related information and content, Pearl-Guide.com is the world's largest pearl information source where questions are answered and where history, technology and the latest news are center stage. 

Photy by Michelle Buettner

There's ongoing forums with a range of topics such as pearls in fashion (Pearls are ALWAYS stylishly in fashion!) and many other pearl related topics.  This is your one-stop, get your pearl questions answered and facts found website!

Photo by Michelle Buettner
Okay - I hope you've enjoyed this week's edition of Friday's Fab Fav's and will check out these amazing websites/blogs and see for yourself all the great information and education they provide!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and Loads of Fun Information!!
Cheers,

This or That Thursday!


Thank goodness for 'auto-posting' so that I could participate today when I'm actually not here!

Rusted pipe from the cabin after the fire this summer


This is,...well, it's just RUST!

I love the texture of rust and it's fun to play with when photographing!

Enjoy!

Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and Texture Fun!
Cheers,
~Shel~

No Beads on My Bead Table This Week,...


I'm hoping to create a bunch of jewelry this weekend
for our Annual Fall Jewelry Boutique
my sis and I are having on November 5th.  

Earrings are my favorite pieces to create
but aside from the ones pictured here,
I haven't made very many lately
and am just itching to play!!



What?  Why am I waiting until the weekend? 

Well, today (Tuesday) was Jury Duty all day
and the next two days I'm going to help a dear friend
who's having some post-cancer surgery
and so it's going to be a no-internet, no work,
no jewelry making, couple of days. 

Days filled with happily caring for another during
a time of need and relaxing with tea,
girl talk and funny movies!



My feet will be hitting the floor at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday) and I'll return sometime late on Thursday
at which time I will hug the hubby and son, grasp my tempurpedic pillow and drift off to sleep and wake to a lovely, sunny Friday morning ~ ready to work, design, play and create! 

I hope you're having a creative week
and making lots of fun things and
I also hope you're enjoying lots of
lovely fall weather and gorgeous inspiration!

Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and Hangin' with one of my girls!
Cheers,
~Shel~

I Heart Macro - It's Sunday!!

With All The Gorgeous Macro Shots



Happy Sunday Everyone!






Cute Little Bee's Butt! :)


Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Sunday Funday!
Cheers,
~Shel~

Steel Shot Down the Drain!

Okay, so one day this week - we won't mention which day - I was tumbling several orders of earring wires. 

All was going well as I stopped the tumbler, removed the drum, took the lid off and started to carry it to the other side of the kitchen counter.

That's when things went down hill - quickly! 

I tripped on the rug in front of the sink, hit the sink with my arms and the barrel carrying all the steel shot went sliding out of my hands and,....yep,...you guessed it,...right into the flipping garbarge disposal!!

HOLY CRAP! 

A 1/2 a pound of steel shot just escaped from the barrel and was clogging up my garbage disposal!

HOLY SHIT!
I mean SHOT!

Seriously - You gotta be kiddin' me!!! 


My son comes running as he hears my screams of distress

(The, "Holy SHIT!" comment brought him right in!).

So, as he sees that I've not burned holes through
my skin with any kind of acid
( I was just putting some ear wires through the whole liver-of-sulfur thing which he thinks is the most 'acid' type of thing I could ever do,...if he only knew!)
he comes around the sink to help. 

As he sees all the shot in the sink he stops and then says

"Hang on Mom, I'll be right back.
That stuff is magnetic, right?" 

At this point, I'm like, "I have no idea!" 
(shoot me now,...just shoot me now!)

My son returns with this rectangle magnet that's sooooo strong and which proceeds to lift so much of the steel shot out of the sink that I'm pretty sure we'll only need minor repairs if we ever want to use it again!

Fast forward a half hour or so,...
My son helped me get most of the shot out of sink with his miracle magnet and I wrangled all the little pieces I could manage with my fingernails and only about 20 or so little pieces still remained!
(20 or so pieces,...WTF?!!) 

And then, it's time to go to our Parent/Teacher conferences.
Yeah life really does go on,....

So, we call the hubby and give him the scoop and he says "Relax, I'll use the shop vac and get all those pieces out, not to worry!"
 
(I'm thinking,..."yeah right!")

However, we all meet up and then return from all the family stuff we had to do and guess what? 

Not a single little itty bitty piece of steel shot remains in the garbarge disposal!

All is perfect again in my kitchen! 
Woo Hoo!
Seriously,...WOO HOO!

And that's the end of another perfect day in Shel's World!!

***Sorry there's not pics, but my hands were a bit busy scraping steel shot and a few tomatoes out of the drain!***

Friday's Fab Fav's!

T.G.I.F.!!   Time for my list of Friday's Fab Fav's!

Here's the scoop - these are blogs or sites I regularly follow and think have something special to offer. 

This week, unlike last week, they're all jewelry related in some fashion. (i.e. - they have some sort of jewelry related posts or pages on their blogs), but each have something other than just "pretty jewels" to offer. 

 
So, grab your drink of choice tonight and sit back, relax and allow yourself to be thoroughly engulfed!


You've all heard me whine about my jewelry photographs and how I'd like to improve them, so when I found out that
Kerry was making her "Snaptastic" photography class available as an eCourse,...I signed up! 
(You should seriously check this out!!)


Kerry's blog has great inspirational photos, links to her fabulous book, (Totally Twisted: innovative wirework and art glass  jewelry) and amazingly colorful glass beads she creates and sells, as well as informative posts and links for those in the jewelry and bead world.  

 

Next up this Friday is the creative
Lori Anderson with her blog, Pretty Things.
Lori's the mastermind and host behind the Bead Soup Blog Party I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in this past September (Cool experience!). 

Lori's one of those rare and amazing people who instantly put you at ease and make you feel you can accomplish anything. Down to earth and very real (and oh, so funny!!) Lori share's tutorials, wonderful sites to check out, where to catch all the latest 'goings on', great books (and some bizarre ones, too!) and a plethora of stunning jewelry designs,..just to name a few things! Seriously - you will not get bored with this site - check it out!

And last, but certainly not least this Friday is Rena Klingenberg and her website and newsletter:
Home Jewelry Business Success Tips

I'm not sure I can even put into words what all Rena's site encompasses or what it's meant to me.  

I was so excited to find Rena's website and to receive her newsletters many years ago,...2004 or 2005 I think it may have been. I'd already been designing jewelry (mostly earrings) since the late 1980's (yep, I'm old - 46 to be exact!) but stopped when my son was a toddler and had just started to revise my passion when I found her site. 



She's been a source of great business information over the years with everything from setting up booths at trade shows to expanding your business with various services to using social media to expand your business,....everything that you could want to know - she's touched on the topic - trust me on this one! Plus, there's a ton of people who regularly post to Rena's site with gorgeous inspirational jewelry photos, great business advise and all sorts of fun jewelry topics.  This is one you need to book mark and read regularly!

Althought I've only given you three again this week,
 trust me - you'll be filled to the brim! 
"But it's all good, Baby!!" 
(as the hubby always says!) 

I hope you have an excellent weekend! 
Go out and do something creative!

Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and Fabulous Friday Favorites over at Shel's!

Cheers,

Music To My Eyes


Won't you play along?




 
My Uncle gave my Dad this violin. 

My dad gave both his violin and this one to my sister. 



Awhile back, she so graciously gave this one to me. 


From what we can tell by the shoulder strap imprint,
it will be 100 years old in October 2012.



I wanted to restore it but felt that if I did, all the hands that had touched it, the sounds that came from it and the past it represented, would melt away. 





So I enjoy it by taking it out every now and then,...touching it, listened in my head for the songs and sounds to come to me and feeling a closeness to the people who are no longer here.




 




Until Next Time,



Peace, Love and Timeless Memories

Cheers,
~Shel~


Barbie's On My Bead Table!!

Barbie's on my bead table today!

What's on my Bead Table you ask? 

Bead Table Wednesday over on Flickr


Barbie's on my bead table,...along with some things that are getting packed up and ready to ship, some things I still have to take photos of (I'm waiting a bit cause I know Kerry Bogert over at Kab's Creative Concepts is gonna show me how to get even better shots than before!) and then I've got these two little fun fella's hanging out, waiting to be put into some designs, plus bunches of earring wires and clasps to get created and shipped out tomrorow to peeps.

Beady Bottles of Fun


What?  Of course Barbie's got Pearls!

Ya think I'd have a Barbie (circa 1972 or there abouts) and not have Beautiful Pearls on her?  Right!  
 
As my muse, she's got a few fun pieces of jewelry - not all pearls either.

Maybe I'll be brave enough to show you some time!

Barbie in MiShel Designs Pearls


Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Hanging Out with Barbie!

Cheers,

SNAP Your Way To Great Photography!

I've been struggling with taking better
photos of my jewelry for quite some time. 

Once in a while I get a couple
of good shots off, but on a continual basis,
I'm due for some major improvement. 

This will become a thing of the past
(the so-so photo - not the clasp!)
 

I have been searching for a class to take here in the Valley
similar to the one I participated in a few years back,
but didn't turn up anything that fit my schedule 
or that wasn't clear across town.  

So, imagine how excited I was when I was reading
Erin Siegel's blog last week and she mentioned that
was now available as an E-Course
(insert image of Shelly jumping up and down with joy here!) 

"Woo Hoo!" 

Totally Twisted by Kerry Bogert


Aside from drooling over Kerry's
and enjoying her fun book, Totally Twisted:
I had seen her photographs on her blog and thought,
"Wow, this chic knows how to take some photos!"  

I hope you'll join me over the next five weeks
as I share some of the photos I will be taking
while attending Kerry's class and
let me know what you think.

I cannot WAIT to improve on pictures like this one!


This is gonna be a fun ride folks and I really think
you should go check out
 and if you jump on it (Today's the first day of class!!) 
you can join me on this fun adventure and
take your own photography skills to new heights!! 

What do ya say?  Are you up for it?!! 

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Great Photography is on the Horizon!

Cheers,