Living Life....and Other Oddities

I found a passion in life that makes me happy.  We can have one or we can have many.  I have many.  It is the Gemini in me ;)  It took me a while to find the passion that fuels my creative side.  Once I found this however, it branched me out in all sorts of directions.  I love it.  From jewelery designer,  to dabbling in Art & Mixed Media & recycling/upcyclying to getting involved in groups with like minded people.  I am very happy I keep going on these multiple avenues; not to be complacent.  People can do that to you ya know.  Keep you complacent.  Burn out that flicker of light that is starting to ignite full blown passion.  Ridicule other people's choices, looks and lifestyle.  Get away from them.......FAST.

I love this show called Oddities on the Sci-Fy channel.  It is about a shop called Obsura, co-owned by Mike Zohn and Evan Michelson and a buyer Ryan Matthew:

This show is amazing to me!  They comb flea markets, estate sales looking for the most bizarre things.  They talk to the most fascinating people. They have a repeat customer Laura, who if I were to meet her  would think she is a little bizarre, strung out or who knows what.  But she isn't.  (or maybe she is, but who cares).

What she is, is a beautiful, smart business women mortician turned designer who likes the bizarre.  You know what?  So do I and who cares.  I was thinking last night about my earliest memories of something that I liked, that I had passion about.  It was junk yards.  My dad use to take me to this junk yard back in Jersey.  He went to look for parts to fix, replace what ever was needed on the vehicles and I roamed around looking at all the old cars, fascinated.  You could see this junk yard from the road.  It stretched out for miles.  I was amazed.  I loved finding trinkets, and making jewelry out of them, fixing or give new life to something.  Flash forward 25 some years later and here I am.  Designing, upcycle, redoing.....having fun!  I also like skulls and bones.

Don't forget to do what you love and explore this whole wide world. No matter what it is such as bone collector, cemetery dweller, minimalist, vegan...be happy because you know what?  This is life, no one gets out alive you better enjoy the ride! :)

Ciao~

Spring~New Beginnings

Hello!

I have not been very bloggy lately.  Winter is one of those seasons for me that is very mundane, boring, blah!  The weather here lately has been 70s-80s and I LOVE it!

I have been creating.  I made this bracelet that SCREAMS summer:

It is fun, colorful and perfect for the new summer season!  I have a Kindle Fire and I LOVE it.  I carry it with me everywhere.  I love that you can download free books.  The one book I recently down loaded is called The Silence of Trees:

I love it!  It is about gypsies, magic, it is just a great read.  Here is the gist of it:

In Chicago’s Ukrainian Village, Nadya Lysenko has built her life on a foundation of secrets.

When Nadya was sixteen, she snuck out of her house in Western Ukraine to meet a fortuneteller in the woods. Ignoring the threat of Nazis and Russians, Nadya was driven by love and a desire to learn the unknown. She never expected it to be the last time she would see her family.

Years later, Nadya continues to be haunted by the death of her parents and sisters. She clings to her traditions and stories from Ukraine, the only parts of her past that she can share with her family. The myths and magic of Nadya’s childhood are still a part of her reality: dreams unite friends across time and space, house spirits misplace keys and glasses, and a fortuneteller’s cards predict the future.

Her beloved dead also insist on being heard, through dreams and whispers in the night. They want the truth to come out. Nadya needs to face her past and confront the secrets she buried within–THE SILENCE OF TREES.

In other news, I found a metalsmith class and a blacksmith group. I am excited about learning and working with iron. It is something totally out of my norm. It is a strong interest I have, one of many.

Go explore!

Ciao~

Bookishly Fab~Books To Check Out

I love books, I collect books, I hoard books....
If your a booker check out these below. 

For the crafter:

I do not own these books........YET.  But I will.  If your a fan of the BUST magazine you will love Bust's DIY guide to life.  I scanned through it and liked what I saw.  It has everything from beauty, health, fashion, food, entertaining, finance, travel, sex....on and on.  If you like BUST magazine you will also like BITCH magazine.  Check them both out here:

http://bitchmagazine.org/

http://www.bust.com/

Weekend Handmade by Kelly Wilkinson has about 40 projects that you can do in a weekend.  I am all for anything that can nourish my creative wild side!


I belong to a wonderful book club.  The girls are so fun and being in this group I read books I would not normally read or give a second thought.  It is always, always good to get involved in groups, clubs, throw little social parties etc.  Get Out And LIVE!  Step outside your comfort zone and learn something new and explore the life around you.  You will be amazed at how you grow.

Anyway.....the latest books some of us gals read were:

I have not read The Night Circus yet, but it seems interesting.  I am actually going to pick it up today from my library.  They just called me today telling me it is now my turn to check it out!  Read below the book description I copied off of Amazon:

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. As far as for Maine, I just finished it and LUV'D it.  Read below the book description I copied off Amazon. 


But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.


True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.



In her best-selling debut, Commencement, J. Courtney Sullivan explored the complicated and contradictory landscape of female friendship. Now, in her highly anticipated second novel, Sullivan takes us into even richer territory, introducing four unforgettable women who have nothing in common but the fact that, like it or not, they’re family.



For the Kellehers, Maine is a place where children run in packs, showers are taken outdoors, and old Irish songs are sung around a piano. Their beachfront property, won on a barroom bet after the war, sits on three acres of sand and pine nestled between stretches of rocky coast, with one tree bearing the initials “A.H.” At the cottage, built by Kelleher hands, cocktail hour follows morning mass, nosy grandchildren snoop in drawers, and decades-old grudges simmer beneath the surface.


As three generations of Kelleher women descend on the property one summer, each brings her own hopes and fears. Maggie is thirty-two and pregnant, waiting for the perfect moment to tell her imperfect boyfriend the news; Ann Marie, a Kelleher by marriage, is channeling her domestic frustration into a dollhouse obsession and an ill-advised crush; Kathleen, the black sheep, never wanted to set foot in the cottage again; and Alice, the matriarch at the center of it all, would trade every floorboard for a chance to undo the events of one night, long ago.

By turns wickedly funny and achingly sad, Maine unveils the sibling rivalry, alcoholism, social climbing, and Catholic guilt at the center of one family, along with the abiding, often irrational love that keeps them coming back, every summer, to Maine and to each other.
 
For me, I liked reading about how this family acts, re-acts and moves along in life. It was a good read.
 
I will post more book selections to check out.  Most of my book choices come from my book club and other people who inspire me.  If I can in turn expand your world...then life is good ;)
 
CIAO~

Life Gets Busy

I have been busy with the holidays!  Trying to get all the shopping done in between my son's wrestling tournaments.  I am proud to say he placed 1st last weekend AND won most outstanding wrestler!  YEAH!

The other day I took the time to finish a necklace that I will soon place in my Etsy shop.  My poor Etsy shop has been neglected with every day life.  My new years resolution is to sit down a few days a week and make a piece.  I also have another Etsy shop for vintage goods.  I need to get my ass in gear and get them both filled up!!

This necklace is amazing!  It is black and white glass beads and I added a small skeleton key for that little touch of mystery.   The beads don't always lay perfectly flat, which gives it such an amazing look.  You can wear it with a classy dress or it can even be worn with your everyday jeans and sweater to add a rich look!  LUV IT!!  I showed a lot of people this, as I always do with my pieces and they fell in love with how unique it is.  I think it will sell fast!

I have recently went to NJ and visited local boutiques.  I love local shops, vintage shops and thrift stores!  Look at what I found.  I really love to look through them and find treasures and unique things from the past.  A few of my favorites back home on the PA side are Salvage Goods, Phyllis's Boutique, Underwire and Mercantile.  Support your local shops!

This is a Sarah Coventry necklace.  Love the pirate ship.  It is so different.  Can you find this in your brick and mortar store?  Nope.

This vintage pendant grabbed my eye!  LUV IT!!  I don't know to much about it, if you do let me know.  It is amazing!!

Ciao!

Skull Necklace

I love skulls!  I think they are cute!  I bought the colored skulls at a local bead shop.  I knew they were perfect for something.  I think I hung onto them for about a year before I figured out what to do with them.

The other day I came across a design that inspired me to make the skull necklace.  They are wire wrapped on a chain and each skull has beads hanging from them. 

I have a few left and I will soon be making a skull and rose necklace! 

Sometimes inspiration can come from any place!!!

Lucite Flower Necklace

I was at my local bead shop and saw a basket full of lucite lily flowers.  I wanted to buy the whole basket, but since they were a littly pricey I selected a few to make a necklace,  I love the powder blue with the yellow.  I think I may go back and get a few of the smaller flowers and make dangley earrings on the same silver chain. 

Ciao!

Things I Love

I come across so many things that make me happy on a daily basis I figured I create a post about them.  Sometimes I think people take things for granted.  I think that we all are looking for the bigger and better "thing" that we forget it is OK to appreciate the everyday joys.

Here is what made me happy:

Finding a Seth Godin Book at the used book store.
My eBay purchase of vintage clogs!!!!

The thrill of going back to school for design and writing classes.

American Horror Story being on tonight!!

The nice fall weather today.

Yogi Tea.

Oprah's Life Class



Stumbling upon various websites today that fueled my creativity.

Coming across this quote on one of the sites: