Poppies...

From Pinterest

If you haven't had a chance yet, take a couple of minutes to read Diane Cook's post on Grateful Living today.  She talks about childhood memories of her grandmothers and the beautiful poppies one of them grew.  

Then you can pop over to her blog, Rosa and Josie's, to read the story behind her blog name homage to these two wonderful women.

Winter 2011 Belle Armoire Jewelry

I FINALLY picked up the newest copy of Belle Armoire Jewelry, and all I have to say is...WOW!!!  This has got to be one of my most favorite issues of all time.  The talent is extraordinary, and so many wonderful artists are included, that I just had to share a few:

- Check out that gorgeous cover art from Mary Feliciano - beautiful!

- Maire Dodd has an AMAZING trio of resin and wire pieces, one of which she featured on the Love My Art Jewelry blog:

- Cat Kerr of In the Light Of The Moon has the most amazing Trinket Nest necklaces that tell absolutely beautiful stories:

- Maryann Carroll of Artisan Beads Plus features her signature handmade porcelain beads in stunning wireworked designs

- Lisa Weber of Silver Vine Jewelry has some of the most beautiful sterling and stone pieces

- One of my all-time favorite artists and people is Diane Cook of Rosa & Josie's.  Her newest feature called "Framed", and it is beautiful:

- Teresa Smith of T Smith Designs shows how to use recycled glass in a super-cool bezel setting that I am going to be trying out soon!

These are just a few that stuck out to me, but there are SO many other artists featured, so be sure to pick up your copy soon!

What's Cookin'?

Today I've been doing a lot of this:

To make a lot of these:

What did you work on this weekend?

Also, if you haven't had a chance, hop on over to Grateful Living to read Diane Cook's thoughts on sharing her passion!  

Collaboration…

When I received an e-mail last October from my amazingly talented friend, Diane Cook, asking if I wanted to participate in a collaboration with her and five other women, I sent her an immediate resounding “YES!”  So the seven of us started a journey called “With One Finding” that I’d like to share with you:

Diane’s idea was to give each of us the same starting point:  the ‘Marianne’ focal piece from Brass Bouquet:

Using this beautiful focal, Diane unleashed our creativity, and it was remarkable to see the unique designs that each of us came up with that really showcased the personality of each designer.

Here is a picture of my design:

In addition to the ‘Marianne’ focal, I also purchased three different brass chains from the Brass Bouquet.  After I decided on the structure of the necklace, I started adding (and adding, and adding, and adding) many different sizes and colors of glass pearls to the main chain, finishing the focal with another length of chain and pearls.

This design process pushed me a lot.  I have to admit that I was a bit intimidated by the caliber of the other women participating, and I wanted to make sure my design could stand up with theirs.  What I discovered was that, instead of worrying about what they were going to do and instead trusting my instincts, I was able to create a necklace that was uniquely my own.

The complete article is featured in the Summer 2011 issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry, and I highly recommend you pick it up!  In it you will also see the stunning designs of all of the talented women:  Diane Cook, Marie Dodd, Diana Frey, Julie Pishny, Riki Schumacher and Cindy Wimmer.  Diane also has more pictures posted on her Flickr site.

Thanks so much, Diane, for including me in this fantastic collaboration!

"With One Finding" Design Challenge

I certainly didn't mean to wait this long to post about this, but I do want to make sure you all know about the "With One Finding" challenge going on over at this post at one of Diane Cook's blogs, "Brass Bouquet Designs".

If you are a fan of beautiful brass filigree and findings, this challenge is for you!  The deadline is the end of this month, so hurry on over to learn more about it!

Even More Secret Santa Reveals!

Hello!  Here are some more Secret Santa gifts made by the incredible ladies in this swap:
First are pictures of the necklace and earring set made for Tami Roth of Cat Tales Etc. by Diane Cook of Rosa and Josie’s:

These pictures are of the earring set made by Carolyn Mallin of Fanciful Expressions for Jan Thomason of The Polkadot Barn:

And the third set of pictures are made by Jan Thomason of The Polkadot Barn for Crystal Neubauer of Other People’s Flowers:

 Aren’t these pieces beautiful?  Keep checking back – there are still a few more pieces to feature!

More Secret Santa Gift Reveals…

Hello!

I want to share some more Secret Santa gifts with you:

The first one is a frame made by Riki Schumacher of Riki Jewelry for Diane Cook of Rosa & Josie’s:

“Sisters”

This second set of pictures are of the necklace that Cindy Wimmer of Sweet Bead Studio made for Carolyn Mallin of Fanciful Expressions:

Ladies, you continue to astound me with your unbelievable artistic talent!   Stay tuned for updates from more Secret Santas!