have you seen this???

as i've stated before...my jewelry work is headed in a new direction. here's my latest piece:



i've listed it in my shop. it's for a custom order mother's necklace. i think it's gorgeous. i was inspired to make one for me because...duh...i'm a mom. soon to be a mom to two. i wanted one that i knew what it signified, but no one else would (unless they asked) and would just basically look cool. i think i captured that.

my silver work is coming along nicely, huh? just think - a couple weeks ago i couldn't even get solder to flow! :)

and, in shameless promoting of my own shop, don't forget...CHRISTMAS is coming!! only 80 DAYS AWAY!!! (it sounds really close like that, huh?)

whew...

Ike is over. our yard is clean, everything is working, and it's back to normal - for us at least. for the thousands of people that Ike devastated, well, they're still cleaning. want to see what happened here? go look here. the pictures take a while to load (right now there are 5 pages of them) but they are shocking. and they're not email hoax fakes - i recognize alot of the businesses in many of them.

on a different note, you may have not noticed, but my shop is taking a new turn. i'm getting away from the more 'costumey' for lack of a better word, jewelry and getting more into sterling. i made my first rings on this past tuesday (no pics yet though). today i listed a new bracelet.



different than my normal stuff, but i fell in love with the stones so i had to do something with them. i also have a stack of jewelry that i've made for my shop but somehow they managed to creep their way into 'my jewelry pile' so i'm going to go through that and start listing stuff from there too. i decided just to keep the stuff i LOVE because i dont have enough ears and necks and wrists for all of it!

i sent a necklace and bracelet set (yes, set - something i never do but they requested) in to be published in the January 2009 edition of Bead Trends. it should hit newsstands in the beginning of december, so look for me! :)

that's about it for now. i'm going to try and be a better blogger...what a slacker i've been! oh, we found out what we're having yesterday - another BOY!!! :) still due in the beginning of february sometime!

i really haven't fallen off the earth.......

contrary to popular belief.

life happened, a new online store happened, but most of all, hurrican Ike happened.

on september 12th hurricane ike rolled through knocking out power to 4.1 million houstonians (galvestonians, texas citians, etc). most people have power, but we are still part of the 616,000 center point customers without. we have our fingers crossed to have power restored thursday. and hopefully with power our water will return as well.

thankfully, my mom has power, running water and sewer. we have been here since last wednesday. before that on sunday we evacuated to austin for a few nights of blissful a/c and internet. (yes, internet is an absolute priority for us...sad isn't it?)

i have family and friends still without power, so we are very aware of just how lucky we really are.

so, on a different note, i am starting a new online consignment store. i am looking for consignees of all kinds. my shop, ginger & lime will carry handmade, unique, one-of-a-kind, trendy accessories for you, for him, for your babies and children, for your pets, and for your home.

if you think you fit the bill, please email me or contact me through my etsy shop for more info. in the meantime, the only items listed in the new shop are mine, so the selection is VERY poor :)

Through the Viewfinder - 1st attempt

So, yesterday I stumbled upon some photos that I really liked the feel of. They were vintagey (is that a word?). I thought they were done with some post processing in photoshop, (something i do ALL THE TIME) but they WEREN'T! They were done with something called Through the Viewfinder (TtV). So, I found this blog: Russ Morris and did some reading. Today Cameron and I headed for the nearest antique store where I found a nice Kodak Brownie. I wasn't sure how great the mirror on it was because it was pretty dirty, but when i got it home and cleaned it, it looked NEW! that's good and not so good. here are some examples of a picture i took today in the backyard while cam was taking a nap (and i wasn't)

before photoshop (straight out of the camera - except the cropping):


after photoshop:


basically you take your digital camera and using a macro lens take a picture "through the viewfinder" of a vintage camera (like i said i'm using a kodak brownie, but i'm looking for a duraflex). they're cheap older cameras and your photos have the neatest feel to them. i can't wait to take some pictures of the kiddo!

oh, there's also a ton of these types of photos on flickr. i'm just getting into it, but there are people who have been doing it for a while! if you're interested i'll post more about it later!

enjoy!

no jewelry...

well, since i can't make jewelry - literally - i just don't have time. ha ha ha. everytime cameron takes a nap i want to take a nap, or just 'rest'. i just can't bring myself to drag all my stuff out to make a few pairs of earrings. part of this is because it's all thrown together in a couple of boxes and i can't find anything. i am trying to rectify this, but it goes back to the first excuse, i really, just don't have time. :)

in the meantime, i will just post about my day to day life. enthralling, right? right.

"you're going to be eating alot of hair if you keep doing that." those are words i NEVER dreamed would come out of my mouth as a mother. as in giving cameron an ice cube to keep him occupied and him throwing it on the floor, pushing it around a while (we have a lab and a cat) and then picking it up to suck on it. i never thought i'd EVER say ANYTHING like that. haha. i had to laugh at myself today when i said that.

my big venture today is popsicle making. HEALTHY popsicles. sounds gross, right? actually they're very good. and good for cameron, and me (what a bonus!) i had three fresh peaches that were past the eating stage, but perfect for smoothies or freezing, so i knew i wanted to start there. i had been reading an old post on mothering.com about popsicles, so i had some good ideas for adding good stuff to smoothies and they'd freeze great. so, 2 fresh peaches, a few spoonfuls of plain whole milk yogurt, a squeeze of honey because it was plain yogurt, and pretty tart, and 1 heaping scoop of whey protein powder. BINGO! fantastic HEALTHY smoothie - which immediately went into popsicle molds. then i made another smaller batch with the third peach, a banana, another squeeze of honey, some yogurt, and two scoops of whey protein powder (these are for me).

anyways, just wanted to share! enjoy the summer! popsicles are the only way to survive the heat!

two important things

and the main reasons i haven't been adding stock to my store lately...





i'm due 2.2.9

hopefully i will be able to work on some jewelry next week!

off topic

but totally worth your time.

read this and let me know what you think:

http://www.livescience.com/health/060227_happiness_keys.html