Winner of My Wild Spirit Jaguar Pendant

Fiona Wins the Wild Spirit Jaguar Pendant!

Thanks to all for participating in the Blank Canvas Blog Hop that I and thirteen other artists hosted! Did you learn some new techniques and tricks for conquering those creative roadblocks?

If by chance you missed the fun -- you can go to my Blank Canvas Blog Hop post -- and go visit the participating artists' blog pages. The giveaways are wrapping up or completed but the information is still relevant in perpetuity!

And I'd like to congratulate Fiona from Spain for her great comments and for being the participant that random selector picked as winner of my Wild Spirit Jaguar Pendant! Enjoy the beauty and passion that this Big Cat attracts into your life, Fiona!

Cities I Love: London Oriel Pendants

 Here's a group of Itsy Bitsy Oriel Pendants that I made as a custom. I enjoyed doing them so much that I plan to do a foreign city/country series. London is so cosmopolitan -- where else other than NYC can you here 12-20 different languages being spoken on the street? It is a curious mix of history, mod-sixties, hip youth, and pop idols.

These are all icons of London -- I'd say my it's my favorite city in the world (English as the primary language). These tiny snapshots (1"-square) will fondly remind me of another place, another time, distant memories....they can also serve as a visualization of a place where I want to go back to visit!

In My Studio: Reflections

When I create one of my oriel pendants it's because I am drawn to a specific image -- I like its color, its shape, its symbolic interpretations, the feelings it brings up in me. These could be feelings of reverence, humor, desire, joy, longing, wildness, adventure, beauty. My pendants are often iconic and people often react to them on this level. Something resonates and is representative of their inner workings -- their hopes, wishes, dreams, desires, loves, passion. When I wear one of my pendants I feel connected to something deep inside of me. I am remembering and celebrating perhaps a part of myself that needs acknowledgment and honoring -- celebrating. People have shared with me that they buy my oriels because something resonates within them as well. I like this exchange. I like this -- I like that they are drawn to a mirror of something positive within themselves and they desire ti acknowledge it and share it with the world.

Oriel Pendants: Dragonfly Magic

Working and Creating: Establishing a Discipline

My preparation for my exhibiting at the Caledonia Spring Street Faire in Sausalito has kept me away from posting this past month. It started with a dear (and wise) friend's challenge to establish a work schedule of 5-8 hours a day, 5 days a week, in my studio. This has not been easy for me...far from it...but I am happy to report that I have accomplished that initial challenge and I will continue to adhere to a schedule -- both in the studio as well as online -- as I build my jewelry and creativity workshops. It would have been great to write about this over the last month or so -- but I honestly had no extra energy to spare. So I just worked in my studio and watched what emerged. It really is kind of wonderful. Looking forward to seeing what happens this weekend. If you are in the area, please drop by the Faire, 9am-6pm, Caledonia Street, Sausalito -- and say "Hi"!

1000th Post Celebratory Give Away -- Winner!

Two weeks ago I wrote my 1000th post! To celebrate and as a thank you for my readers I held a contest for a give away of one of my oriel pendants: "Sacred Journey". The blind drawing was held today (Valentine's Day) and thank you hubby -- and a big congratulations goes to Lisa Briseno-Croome of Toulouse, France. Lisa creates and sells awesome jewelry and you should check out her blog WildGift Designs. Congratulations Lisa!

Sacred Journey Oriel Pendant