Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Childhood Friends

"Marlys, My Favorite Horse" necklace
"Victorian Powder Box" necklace


"Carved Antelope" necklace
"Me and My Best Friend" necklace


I've gotten several requests lately for horse jewelry, and I have to tell you that I absolutely love jewelry inspired by animals. Being the avid animal lover, I try to work them in to my jewelry any chance I get. I've made several pieces in the past inspired by dogs (our precious childhood friends), deer, elk, birds, and horses. I think that the bond we form with our animals, makes these pieces special and forever keepsakes. I plan in the near future to make a necklace inspired by one of my first dogs from my childhood... Corky. His memory brings me so much sentiment and that largely influences my creative process. I have posted this week, pictures of two of my new creations I have been working on lately and a couple of animal inspired pieces from my archives.The first two pictures are the new pieces and you can see more pictures of them on my etsy site. The last two pictures are from my jewelry archives. Hope you enjoy and until next time...honor life, by living!

Friday, July 23, 2010

The Trade


"Lost at Sea" necklace










I told you in my previous post that me and hubby went to his 30th high school reunion this past weekend but I didn't fill you in on the really good part. Hubby told me that if I went to his reunion with him, we could spend a whole day antiquing around central Mississippi. Oh happy joy!! My heart sang and I squealed with delight! Little does he know I would have gone with him with or without antiquing, knowing that my 30th reunion is coming up in just a few years. Well we had a fabulous day full of great treasures! My favorite thing that we found was this great stereoscope with tons of viewing cards. I had been looking for one for years, since I had found a stack of really great viewing cards at an auction a couple of years ago. The cards I found at auction had some really great nautical themes, like the beautiful one with the sea coral on it. There also was a card with a palm tree forest on it. When you look at it through the scope it feels like you are in the middle of a palm tree grove. So cool!! I mostly bought jewelry, though. Because if you know me, I can't resist it. My work table looks like a rhinestone factory blew up on it. (ha ha). My favorite jewelry find for the week is the beautiful, vintage shell cufflink and watch fob set. So fun and cool, I've already used it in my latest design the "Lost at Sea" necklace. It's currently in my etsy shop, if you would like to see more pictures of it. Most of my fabulous finds came from this little old antique store in Hattiesburg called, "The Antique Mall" ...they had great stuff and great prices!! I've added a picture of the front of the store, so if you are ever in that neck of the woods you can drop by. It's definitely worth it...

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

A Hometown Visit

Well, I made it through my husbands 30th high school reunion alive and well. It actually wasn't as frightening as I had made it out to be. It was full of high school memories, kind people, and recollections of a beautiful small southern town. My husband is from Laurel, Mississippi and it is still full of charm and southern hospitality. That is what I found out when we went to this reunion and it has inspired me to write on my blog about it. It was like visiting a place frozen in time, a place where people used to tip their hat when they saw you or held a door for you when entering or leaving a building. Unfortunately, things have changed there, I guess they do in everyone's hometown. It was still great to go back and visit with old friends and reminisce about the good old days. Although I do not have lifelong memories there like those of my husband, I still have 16 years worth of good times and friendships that I have cultivated in that little town. I did actually get some pictures this time, and I hope that they evoke some memories of your small town or where you may have made your memories growing up...

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Hope and Prayers























This blog entry I am dedicating to my beloved town in which I live. Well actually it's dedicated to the whole Gulf Coast. We have seen some scary times here, times which I thought that I would never see in my lifetime. I was raised here on the gulf coast, and have always known this to be my home. Even when I went away for a few years to college, I longed for this wonderful place. This beautiful, serene place. Now, on this day, we live in fear that we may lose it. I have prayed, been baptized in our waters, begged God, and prayed some more that we will make it out of this ecological disaster. All we can do is wait, and have faith in our God, that He will prevail. He always has...this is what gives me the greatest hope of all. So with those words I am comforted in the notion that we can overcome! I leave you with some photos I've taken of my beautiful home from the past few years...

Sunday, July 11, 2010

A Very Special Sunday


Do you ever have one of those occasions where you find yourself without your camera and you want to kick yourself? Well today was that day for me. Today I was baptized in the beautiful Gulf of Mexico and brought nothing with me to document it. I guess I thought that since I was going to be dunked in the water I wasn't going to be snapping any pictures. Luckily the pastor who baptized me had his Iphone so I didn't walk away empty handed. Isn't that so cool, a pastor with an Iphone? The beaches were beautiful today. Not one sign of oil! Just tons of seaweed, that's why the water has a brownish tint to it. We were covered in seaweed after the service, so if you you see something dangling from my ear, it's not an earring. I did however wear my nun's cross necklace from 1912, that is super special to me. (that's the picture of it just above). I told the pastor I was going to wear it, so I could get a double blessing. The other girl in the picture got baptized just before me and my pastor is standing in the middle. He's such a great man! Well just thought I would share my special day with you, let everyone know that the water is fine down here, and wish you all a great week!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Hello Blogland!

Hello blog world! I've finally made it and it's great to be here. I want to share with you my adventures in jewelry making along with some crazy, but fun, everyday adventures that I stumble upon. It's a beautiful life and I hope to pay honor to it here on my blog! Stay tuned also because I will be giving a piece of my handmade jewelry away within the next few weeks . I'll keep you posted as the giveaway materializes. Also to get my blog started, I am posting a few pictures of designs I have been working on lately. Oh what fun I have been having, because I've had some really neat stuff to work with. So, until we meet again...honor life, by living!!