Wine Country

I live in Northern Virginia - not my favorite place in the world, for sure.  It's too crowded, the traffic is awful, the summers are waaaaay to hot for this Mid-Western transplant.  But this past weekend, I went to Wine Country, Virginia.  I am only a 30 minute drive to a vineyard in Prince William County in Virginia.  But, we drove about 45 minutes to Warren and Faquier Counties.  I don't drink very much anymore - but I go for the company and the gorgeous scenery.

First up - Linden Vineyards.  This consensus is that this is the favorite of our group because of the wine, the scenery, and the baguette with cheese and summer sausage (we like to eat, too!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up, Hume Vineyard.  Not nearly as scenic as Linden, but we were greeted with this view.  This is a tiny winery - so quiet and peaceful.



 

 

The owners of Hume live in this home, located right next to the winery. I would love to live here!

 

Our last stop was Naked Mountain.  Not my favorite - it was very crowded and not nearly as scenic as the others.  I was not even inspired to take a picture.

 

I leave you with my FAVORITE picture of the day.  This is Ella - she was vineyard hopping with her Mom and she is the friendliest pup!  Made me miss my Sam and Abby all the more....

 

 

 

 

Hoping you have a great week!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

The Do Over Challenge Blog Hop

Jeannie Dukic is hosting this fun challenge - she sends what she describes as "an old, tired, boring piece of her jewelry " with instructions to  "work  your magic and turn it into something beautiful and amazing".  The only requirement is to use at least 50% of the beads - and we are allowed to add beads from our own stash.

I must digress for just a moment to mention that Jeannie is truly one of the most creative and talented designers that I have come across.  She creates beautiful art beads from polymer clay, and her jewelry designs are sophisticated and down right gorgeous!  She is also a mixed-media artist...SO.MUCH.TALENT.

This is a picture from Jeannie's blog  - which features her handmade pendants and beads - a GORGEOUS braclet, indeed!!

Okay, back to the deal at hand.  Jeannie sent me a 49" (THAT'S FORTY-NINE INCHES!) strand of beautiful carnelian and golden jade beads, which she had strung into a lariat:

This is really a beautiful mix of colors and the lariat included two very nice drops that terminate the necklace.  Now, my first thought was to take the carnelian drops and make very simple earrings.  But, since attending ArtBliss last month and having a wonderful heart-to-heart conversation with the inspirational Stacie Florer - I really wanted to "step outside of my comfort zone", "follow my instincts", and do something different.

So, I punched out some copper discs, which I then textured with one of my hammers, and soldered tiny silver bezels onto the discs.  I set two tiny amber cabachons into the bezels, and then I strung some of the carnelian and golden jade to the discs.  The earrings hang from handmade, sterling earwires.

I still had 48 1/2" of beads to use up!  So, I wanted to make a multi-strand bracelet - but again - I wanted it to be a little different from what I would normally do.  I headed to my disgustingly huge stash of art beads and found two copper paisly cone endcaps handmade by the talented Kristi Bowman (her work is AMAZING!).  I also recently purchased the most awesome handmade twisted copper clasps by Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp.  Both of these woman are so multi-talented in both their jewelry and component designs, and I am so happy that I found their shops! These two handmade copper elements were meant for each other!

The bracelet was "okay" - I mean all the elements were there, but it was missing something.  So, I got out my sheet metal and chased, and folded, and formed, etc....until I came up with this nifty little piece that works amazingly well as a focal.

The bracelet spent an inordinate amount of time in my tumbler to work harden the focal - and believe me - it is work hardened!  I added a a coat of Permalac and Renaissance Wax to protect the finish.

This is truly the most comfortable multi-strand bracelet to wear!  I like it! :)

Thank you so much Jeannie for aiding me in pushing my self out of my doldrum, every-day designs!  I HAD A BLAST!

Please be sure to visit all the participans in this fun challenge!  And, I thank you for stopping by and taking the time to leave comments!

Jeannie K Dukic http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog

Miranda Ackerley http://mirandack.com/

Patti Vanderbloemen http://myaddictionshandcrafted.blogspot.com/ - That's Me!

Marlene Cupo http://amazingdesigns-marlene.blogspot.com/

Mary Govaars http://mlhjewelrydesigns.com/

Kelli Jacobson http://www.creativemoonjewelryandthings.com/

Dagi http://kokopellidesign.blogspot.com/

Gerry Nickerson http://gersgems1.blogspot.com/

Charlene Jacka http://clay-space.com/blog

Birgit Klughardt http://www.gitesbeads-gite.blogspot.com/

Mowse Doyle http://mowsemadethis.blogspot.com/

Renetha Stanziano http://lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com/

Debbie Beechy http://beetique56.blogspot.com/

Cilla Watkins http://www.tellyourgirlfriends.com/

Carolyn Lawson http://carolyncreationswa.blogspot.com

Micha Sorensen http://tulipsandpine.blogspot.com

Emma Todd http://www.apolymerpenchant.com

Donetta Farrington http://simplygorgeous-donetta.blogspot.com/

Tracy Stillman http://www.tracystillmandesigns.com/

Rita Avila http://www.jewelschoolfriends.com/

Blogging...

In reading through my long list of blogs that I like to keep up with, the first I always notice is the blog banner.  There are some beautiful banners out there in web land....the pictures are crisp, the colors are vibrant.  But mine...ugh.

 

Every time I try to create a new blog banner, my pictures--and text for that matter -- are always blurry.  I do not understand this.  My pictures within my blog are never blurry.  But once they are slapped in that banner...forget it!

 

My "go to" photo editing software is Photoshop.  I have also used Picasa and Pic Monkey. I have finagled the resolution...blur.  I have used the "original" photos - completely unedited and untouched...blur.  It does not seem to matter which program I use as the results are always the same...blur.

 

When viewing my banner in the photo-editing program (pick any one of the above), everything is crisp.  But when I placed within my blog - blur.

 

 

Example - this is a picture of a recent necklace (gorgeous beads by Barbara Bechtel by the way) - see how crisp?  Now look at it in my banner.  Ugh.

 

So, I am leaving my computer early today - feeling frustrated and old...with any luck, I will run into a teenager who has more knowledge of computers who can teach this old dog new tricks.

 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend - thanks for stopping by!

Production Time

I have stowed myself in my basement (that's where I have my studio) and have been banging away day and night.  I have some craft shows coming up in November (3 in a 2 week period!) and I need to make sure I have enough inventory.

This is some of what I have made this week:

I could wrap Donna Millard's lampwork in an old shoe string and they would still shine!  Cool twisted clasp by Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp.

I got these beads from the Art Bliss Bead Swap so I can't give credit - but here is Marie's clasp again!

Okay...so I love Marie's clasp-I admit it!

Heavy Metal Beads-learned this technique from Stacie Florer at Art Bliss - this time in silver with turquoise and wrangled into earrings

Stacie mentioned "air chasing metal" in class - I was not in her class when she demonstrated this technique. But she had a sample and I was intrigued.  So I found an article in Art Jewelry Magazine (July 2012) - I will be exploring this technique more for sure!

More of the same - after creating the earrings, I formed the curve on my ring mandrel - I love these!

 

Heavy Metal beads - in bracelet form and in silver

Stacie's Elemental Bracelet class - I made a few of these bracelets, and here are two examples.  If I could just make these bracelets every day for the rest of my life, I would be happy!  Although they look the same, each link is different: different textures, different techniques...SO.MUCH.FUN!

On Sunday, the temperature is supposed to drop to the mid-50's here in Virginia.  I.LOVE.FALL!!!  I plan on banging on more metal this weekend - I cannot tell you how satisfying this medium has been to me.  Do you have a favorite technique that "calms your nerves"?

Thanks for stopping by!  Enjoy your weekend!

Charmed at Artbliss

One of the many highlights of attending Art Bliss this past weekend was exchanging handmade charms with 11 other lovely ladies.  The theme was "Fall Into Bliss" and I think every woman captured this perfectly! There are charms created using some awesome mediums:  ceramic, bronze, polymer clay, etching, wire wrapping, fold forming (I received two GORGEOUS fold-formed leaves - I absolutely love these!)...

Click on the picture for a larger view



Credits for these lovely charms, Top Row, left to right:  Dawn Gallup, Louise Hea Smith, Sally Russick (Studio Sublime), Second Row, left to right:  Lori Anderson (Pretty Things), Jenny Davies-Reazor, Melissa Meman (Melismatic Art Jewelry), Susan Marling, Third Row, left to right: Beth (so sorry - There was no tag included and I do not know your last name!), LeAnn Weih (Summers Studio), Michelle Timms, Anne Savage, Last Row, left to right: Carol Dee Meyers, Me, Me (I had made extras!), and finally, the completed lovely bracelet!

 

Special thank-you to Dawn Gallup, who coordinated this event and presented us with a sweet, handmade art bag to carry our goodies!

 

 

I will re-live every wonderful moment of this past weekend when I wear my charm bracelet. Thank you so much, ladies!

 

Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for stopping by!