I have the new blog setup and started.
http://serenacoulsondesigns.blogspot.com/
I will try to keep this site updated while working on getting it all up and running. Had my first booth at the Downtown Art Market this past weekend and did well. Looking forward to the August market. I even have a custom order for a pair of earrings to match a pendant I sold.
~Serena
I have been contemplating where to go with this adventure.....
When I started out I wanted a name that looked and sounded "catching" I have always used Wind Fire when doing things.... Farm name... Wind Fire Farm... why... because the wind seems to shape a lot of our lives where we live. Fire.... , though we are in a sheltered area and grassfires arent too much of a danger... smoke on the horizon catches our eye and puts us on the alert. Fires have come close to us too, grass fire directly across our road, a home 3 houses down burned, then 5 houses down..... But lately I have felt a need to take this further.. to make it more ME... I am contemplating changing my blog/shop over to my own name instead of a "shop" name. This is MY art... so I am wanting to make it more MINE. I may have to recreate this blog to change it. I'm not quite sure yet what I want to do.
Just a blip for today...
It seems like I havent sat down long enough lately to post anything... really I have I just havent been able to articulate anything. I'm always distracted by other things. I've made a few things and if it keeps raining today I might just get some pics uploaded... I sold two pairs of earrings today. Both I made for myself and one was my best piece yet. My Mom freaked out on them and insisted on buying them. I thought about it and gave in... Named a price for her I thought was "MOM Fair". It gave me some spending money today and since I bought myself a delicious set of Lapis beads and a few others that called to me and asked to be something. Todays purchases were the Lapis, two different strands of a pretty pink jade coins and faceted rectangles and some rose quartz heishi and 3 strands of smooth pale pale amethyst drops that the price was right on. The coins are asking to be a bracelet. The Lapis is too I think.. Though I cant decide if a necklace is more in order or not. I also bought sterling earring backs with the intention of making another pair of my molten silver studs, I really need to to more solder work and get comfortable again... The gem show last weekend left town with me now owning a soldering stand, pickling tongs, soldering tweezers and bezel tools and a ring mandrel.... I need to use them! I'm finally working with REAL tools, not makeshift stuff! Im also going to try to take some pictures of the little pyrite ammonites I bought. It was a wonderful mothers day weekend. Today wasnt so bad either! Its cloudy and rainy now and pretty relaxing. The kiddo should be having his grandma and grandpa time tonight so I hope to sleep late and relax in peace and quiet tommorow and maybe make something.
I almost forgot WHY I even posted... I got bit by the really crazy rearranging bug and took over part of the kitchen/dining area for a work bench... We have some of the garage sale(What the HECK are they really called) tables in storage, I grabbed a short one and moved the mitche table out and took over the wall and window area. NOW I have LOTs of room to work and put the computer AND room to pull another chair if hubby wants the computer while Im working AND Im going to rearrange more I think and move our big 55 gallon fishtank if hubby will cooperate(I dont blame him for NOT wanting to though...) Move a shelf, put the tank next to the sectional, and our freezer in its place and our breakfast table more in the kitchen area... Yeah I know needs pictures... Ill work on that too!.
OK PICTURES ADDED!:
The new work area:
The earrings I love so much:
Pink Opal, keishi pearls and pink tourmaline on twisted earwires.
Happy Mothers day moms....
I am half sleep and contemplating going back to bed and snuggling under the covers for a few minutes. I organized a lot of beads last night by color. That made bedtime almost midnight... eek. I have a LOT of beads. I need more bead containers.
I have 2 designs in the works and cant quite get them going. I had another idea last night and I need my little sterling silver cones!!! Of course I cant find them! I am not pleased. I am meticulous about my sterling silver stuff. Why arent they where they should be???? grrr........
My boys just wandered outside. Mmm.... if the tv were off it would be sooo peaeful... I hope hubby is reading my mind and moving his hideously fugly offroading truck out of the driveway... its been parked in MY space for a few days while he finishes some stuff up in anticipation of a trip to Post next weekend... But it makes my SKIN CRAWL... its sooo ugly!
Well I better check it out and see what they are plotting...
I AM still here... some. Been spending most of my time outside.
I've gotten a couple things done lately but no pictures. i'm going to try to get going on that soon. I've bought some awesome beads lately. LOTS and LOTS of beads! Been trying to get some necklaces done. Working on a Peach Blossom Jasper necklace with pink coral and possibly pink opal clusters. Also working on a Amazonite and Brone pearl necklace with a Aqua Terra Jasper pendant. I've been eyeballing the conchoed western flip flops that are the big thing, thinking I will make me a set if I get the chance. I'm trying to get moving on getting back into my jewelry making mode.... Broke down today and made headpins and pulled out the pickle and warmer and tumbler and everything... Guess I better use them all! We stopped by Harbor Freight this morning and I bought a HUGE set of cable cutters that hubby said should be able to cut my super thick copper that I want to work with. Got home nad dug them out and now I can find ANY of my copper! What the heck? They have a rolling mill we looked at and I informed the hub that I want it too.. has to wait though its $200.
Today was the first date for the Lubbock Art Market. I am thinking of trying out a booth. We checked it out today and it was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but I think it might be pretty nice if they get the word out. Its restricted to handmade goods and includes produce and stuff from what I understand. I dont think the word got out to much more than the artsy crowd. I think there would be a great turnout if they geared it more towards the crafters also. I met a gal that was really chatty about silversmithing and encouraging, asking me what all I've learned... stupid me clammed up. Ugghh.... I hate it when I do that. I cant do anything more than mumble polite mumbo... I would have loved to talk to her. I've moved past being a shy person so much that its extra weird when I cant make myself talk and chat. So just in case she ever stumbles on this blog.... I REALLY wanted to talk to you, but I could barely choke out the few answers I gave you.... Yeah... ME shy... seems weird I know... but it is what it is.
Its late and I need to pull the headpins out of the tumbler and get my booty to bed. Tommorow is mothers day. We are taking my mom to Baskin Robbins for Daquiri Ice... She doesnt know it yet. I just confirmed that they have it for the summer... hehe... she loves it and they NEVER have it...
Gnight all!
13 more chickies... mostly cochins, 2 mysteries.
AND
Drumroll please!!!!!
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What do you get when you combine one indulgent loving marshmallow of a husband with one overlyspoiled no self control wife?????
WARNING! DO NOT GO TO TRACTOR SUPPLY, GEBOS, OR ANY FEEDSTORE UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE SUCKED IN!!!!!
There are 10 little teeny tiny bantam fluffballs! 3 possibly 4 silkies, a handful that look like cochins and one little strawberry blond teeny tiny little thing that I have no clue what it is.
This last weekend I bought two fully feathered Americauna chicks and intended to get some more this weekend... but when I stopped to get chicken food tonight TRactor supply had these guys... I couldnt resist... of course I am married to a man that is SUPPOSED to say NO!!! BUT instead he was scooping them out of there as fast as I was.....
I am still considering getting out the incubator and getting some hatching eggs.... but at least I can start with these little buggers and get used to raising teensy weensy chicklets!!!
OH YEAH... I AM LOOKING FOR SOME TURKEYS TOO!!!! MUAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Its been unseasonably warm(except for that snow on Friday bleck...).
everything is turning green, the birds are on the prowl! The feed stores are getting in baby chicks! (WHY is this pertinent you ask????Muahahaha!!!! Cause I am getting some!!! So far I have 2 little Americauna pullets(young girl chickens.) and the plan is to take Wyatt to see the itty bitty baby chicks.... and probably bring some home(thinking barred rocks there...) I cant decide if I should go get a few more of the Americana pullets or not) Why Americanas??? Becuase instead of your boring white, or the pretty brown... they lay light blue or light green colored eggs... My only downfall will be ducklings! I must resist the ducklings!
Husband of mine is not too pleased... see once before we raised chickens, ducks, geese, guineas, turkeys you name it I had it.... until wandering dogs decided they were a tasty fun self propelled flock of cool toys.... Chainlink fences didnt even slow them down.... But I am trying again!
Of course with all the pretty weather I havent even tried to get anything done jewelry wise, I am to busy enjoying the outdoors.... so I am giving it up for a while. Ill get back to it eventually. I just need some time to be and outdoorsy farm girl for a while. I have a garden to get going (Brand new Raised beds with irrigation systems!!!!) Pretty soon if everything worked out like i hope I will be busy with a litter of Aussie puppies! My friend Stephanie is expecting Corgi puppies and I cant wait until they arrive. Life is just crammed packed full! With all the good comes bad too.... The CAR decided it doesnt like me and the overdrive went out on the tranny so we arent driving it... we are a single cab pickup family for a while.... which drives me INSANE!!! This comes a week AFTER the rear end on Mikes pickup died a loud screaming death... luckily his generosity towards the world was returned and instead of a $500 rebuild or a $100 complete rear end swap, a guy he recently helped out popped up with the parts he needed and he ended up spending $15 on seals. Happy dance! Just in time for the car to go caput.... at least they werent allat the same time... Cause sharing ONE pickup just wont work. we would KILL each other... So now we start pricing transmissions and deciding what to do.... I cant gripe too much cause all of our vehicles are paid for.
Lots of other stuff has gone on lately and I really need to take some pictures and upload others, but the sun shines and calls me outside to play in the dirt!!!!!
So I took a picture of some actual jewelry making...
Of course My dear sweet loving honey brought me lunch
Of course My dear sweet loving honey asked for the picture card and the reader thingy...
Of course I didnt blink and eye and handed it to him.
Of course I totally forgot my intentions to post the pic I took.
Of course I hate posting pictures from the laptop at home.
Of course I will have to wait 3 extra hours for hubby to get home after I do tonight...
Of course I will have to call him 15 times to remind him to bring it home.
I just hope I wont be coming back to say:
Of course he forgot to bring it home....
he better not forget!
I have a pair of earring under construction that I am in love with....
pictures to come soon... possibly to be posted in my Etsy shop...
Of course..... I am pretty slow about all of that.
So of course no promises....
Ok I have a rare few minutes of time to post while my hubby is gone dropping Wy off at my inlaws house for the night(yaay!). I know I havent posted in a while but its been soooo busy. Since my last post we have ripped all the carpet out of the living room. Installed a gorgeous new laminate wood floor(still finishing the kitchen area a little at a time) I got rid of tons of clutter stuff AND we bought a new(used) sectional couch that is just gorgeous and the price was perfect! Im busting but going through tons of stuff and clearing out the excess.. We are such packrats! I want a pretty uncluttered house. We still have to paint, and get quite a bit of stuff put up but its getting there. ALready I can tell a difference in the ALLERGENS! without carpet! Carpet holds so much dust and dander and heebiegeebies! I am so relived to have it gone... Next when budget allows is removing the carpet in Wyatts room. I havent made ANY jewelry in forever, but I have been stocking up on all the awesome beads I am always craving... green onyx, tourmaline, moonstone.... lampwork and more... I just got a small order of silver so am hoping to stop running full blst long enough to make something tommorow. Designs are rattling in my head like crazy.
Today.. for Valentines... my dear hubby and I spent the day Offroading at the ranch in post with the 4X4 club. Talk about COLD! We even had a rumbly thunderstorm that iced on us... Not Rain.. ICE pellets! It looked like it has snowed. I have TONS of pics but of course no time to load them. It was fun but exhausting.
but Im am done blabbing for now and going to go wash trail dust off of me and relax... until tommorow. Lots to get done!
I hate hate hate making meatloaf! Mixing the meat is my least favorite thing in the world. This little baby made it soo easy though. The mixer washed clean with little more than a rinse. Everything washed up easily and I moved on to cake mix cookies(SOSO Easy) but I was getting tired and the kid was spazzing over cookie dough begging and the kitchen started to get messy like it always seems to when baking so I didnt manage to get any pictures. The cookies were sooo good though! Cake mix, oil, water and an egg I think it was and wala cookies to die for. I love making cookies from scratch, but sometimes you just need an easy mix type to get you buy in a pinch and this is it. I made mine with a Strawberry cake mix. Yum. Next time I want to try pinapple and a few others.. Lemon maybe. Pictures to come soon... ive been a busy little bee:
Graduated Tormaline Large Rondelles
Large faceted mixed nuggets, amethyst, carnelian, rose quartz, pehrinite(sp?), rock quartz.
White quartz rounds
Blue Tigers eye large rounds
Green Onyx smoothbuttons/small rondelles
Hessonite Garnet smooth buttons/small rondelles
Labradorite " " "
Smokey Quartz faceted rondelles
Sunstone 6mm rondelles
2 -13mm Star Ruby Rounds
**But if I desapear for a while its cause I am occupied cooking. My dear sweet lovable hugable teddy bear of a hubby bought me the prettiest "Ice" blue (more of a light teal color) Kitchenaid Artisan Stand mixer. I have wanted one for YEARS! He wanted it as bad as I did(loves making cookies) so I hope to be able to be the first to use it(Planning: Home made marshmallows from the homesteading housewifes blog! )
but its late and I need to get my butt in bed. I will try to post pictures tommorow or this weekend. Busy busy busy!
Gorgeous Smooth Tourmaline Rondelles
Tiny microfaceted pale citrine rondelles
Small Smooth Blue Topaz Rondelles
Garnet Heishi
ok I have acomplished nothing... 2+2=0 NOTHING this wonderful 3 day weekend. Oh i have THOUGHT of all the things that could be done.. But Saturday, my little guy was still sick and I was soooo tired so we spent most of the day snuggled up together napping(ok I was able to keep a close eye on his little feverish self the whole time so it was a good thing) Yesterday... He was still not quite well and spiked another fever(poor poor thing hast a nasty bug) so we took it easy. He did bouce back abit and had to be tied up inside the house (JOKING) to keep him quiet... Today.. hes just soooo sleepy and tired trying to recover. We browed the goodwill looking for interesting things and I convinced myself not to spend any money. Ate lunch with The World Revolves Around Him DADDY... who is a little miffed that his worshiping son Wyatt only wants his MAMA..( yes hes still gotta be sick.. the momma is only for sick cuddles and booboo fixin...) we came home and have been camped out taking it easy ever since. Sleep does a sick body good(since we DID pick up some fresh air and sunshine earlier). I am tryyying to find the energy to go take some pics of my newest beads... Light Blue topaz button rondelles. garnet heishi, and large Tourmaline rondelles that are totally yummy looking and a little bitty strand of faceted citrine that I picked up at one of the local shops and I think they were mismarked or something because I only paid $4 for them..... Ive got a few idea in mind... I just have to wait unril payday for some more silver wire and chain.... so its the usual holding pattern..... But I'm gonna go snuggle the Wyatt for a bit longer and then try to get moving...
So I kept putting this off forever.... I dont have really great picture editing software like photoshop to work with and I really needed a nice banner for my etsy shop. Decided to play around and it took me forever using the 3 sucky programs I have. But I got it done! The new red chillis banner you see matches my etsy shop banner. Too cool. It was a pain to resize! Why cant all editing software have a simply resizing tool???? Oh the pic was taken by me on one of our trips to taos. I think it will work.
Yesterday we loaded up at the crack of dawn and headed to Post to go wheelin... It was a balmy 30 something degrees.... NO heat in our truck and the back of it isopen... Talk about COLD.
heading into the interior of the ranch..
They look like tarntulas...
heading up a trail.
Some areas are pretty intense.
I dont know which is scarier going up or down....
Headed down into one of the more serious trails.
Uhoh.... this one didnt quite make it!! Rollover!
After making sure the driver, passenger, and puppy are ok..
They start prepping to get her back over.
This was a gorgeous Rubicon.
More pics to come later.....
Happy New Year Everyone!!
2008 went by way to fast...
Tommorow I go back to work... and Grouchy Husband starts his new hours at work. instead of 8am to 6pm he is working 8am to 7pm. Stupid idea his company had to "make more money" well HE isnt going to make any more money. grrr.... its been years since he had to work that late and it was miserable, what a way to start a new year. BUT we will get through it. Grouchy Husband by the way wandered over and read my blog... I was suprised. He grumbled about being called Grouchy Husband and was miffed about his new toy being labeled the Big Ugly Brown Truck. I shall compromise and find a new label for him, but the truck I just cant see being called anything else. Now what to call my dear husband? Hmm......
Ideas are welcome.
