Wow... can't believe i haven't posted since August!

A lot has happened since my last post....sorry it has taken so long! We are doing MAJOR renovations to our house which we started in June. We have added an addition to the back of house which right now, 3 months into the project, is only a shell but when complete it will house our kitchen, dining room, pool table and living room (complete with a new fireplace!). So needless to say, right now my house as well as my life is about as unorganized as they could possibly get!

This is a photo of the back of the house before we started any work.

Since the above photo was taken we have jackhammered up concrete floors and dug 4 ft deep trenches from the front of the house all the way through to the back and across the entire back yard to replace plumbing pipes and to lay new ones. this whole process took seven 10 hr days and a total of 6 people. The photo below is of my friend, and one of the BEST neighbors I could ever have, helping to dig the trench in one of the bedrooms in my house. This room as well as the bathroom (second and third photos down) still look like this...

Another friend digging in the bathroom...

So now after all the work we have done (as well as the contractors) we have this:

So with our house getting larger, the livable space within the walls seams to be getting smaller and smaller as more work gets done since we are constantly shifting furniture and other items from room to room so work can be done. I will update with more photos as more gets accomplished but right now I need to get back to making jewelry before the space inside gets any smaller and I can no longer work in there! I do have a show coming up in a few weeks!

Construction and BMAC...

With all that has been going on at my house with the construction and trying to work around it all I did manage to get enough things together for the Buyers Market of American Craft Show at the Philadelphia Convention Center this past weekend. I had to use half of my outdoor booth mixed with my indoor booth because I couldn't get to some of my stuff but it still looked great and I received many compliments on it anyway (pic below). The BMAC show is wholesale to the trade only. There was some really great artwork from all over the US and Canada there again as usual. I even got myself a new necklace from artist Beth Taylor. (we traded which I LOVE to do!) Check out her site. The necklace isn't on the site but you can see some of her other cool things! I also met another jewelry artist Erica Stankwytch Bailey who makes some really awesome jewelry as well. It was really good to see some friends (Olga Ganoudis , Regina Ewer...check out thier sites too) I don't get to see that often and to make some new ones as well (and selling my jewelry while I was there didn't hurt either!) All in all I made out pretty well.

Construction has started...

So after 16 years of living and working in the same house and slowly growing out of the space we have decided it's finally time to add on. By doing so we are turning our kitchen into a "great room" which will house not only our kitchen but also a dining area, a pool table and our living room furniture. The good thing about all this is that my jewelry studio will then be moved from it's current location to the old living room area taking it from a 9x10 space to a 14x20 space. Although this is going to be one of the last rooms finished and could take a few months to get to, it will be well worth the wait. Below are some pictures of my current studio so you can see why I'm really excited about the project. Although my current studio looks like a mess it is quite organized. It has to be in order for me work and to find anything! I will keep you posted on the progress of the new studio space!

New work...Petals & Twigs

Since I'm finally trying to update my website I figured I should update my blog as well.....Besides enameling, I also made a bunch of new pieces with all my yummy beads and stones I bought back in March. Here's a few of the many pieces I made. Check out my website in the next few days to see more!

Smoky Topaz Twig Necklace

Amethyst Petal & Twig Necklace

Carnelian Petal Earrings

Bird update....

The babies are all grown! And all four of them actually flew out of the nest a few days ago and are now living in my back yard. They are still learning to fly but should be pros very soon!

Birds in my flower pot...

OK... I just had to share this with you.... I was given a hanging basket of flowers for Easter which I hung on my front porch. About a week later a Robin made a nest in the center of the basket and a not long after that there were 4 eggs! Not only does this make it extremely hard to water the plant but we now have to be careful not to scare the bird when we walk out our front door! And since this bird is ALWAYS sitting in basket of flowers the flowers don't get watered all that much...here's a pic of the bird sitting in the flower basket...(notice the drooping flowers...they haven't been watered in a few days due to the bird)

Well today while the bird was gone I jumped at the chance to water the flowers before they die and no longer keep the bird's nest hidden and to my surprise there was a baby bird in the nest! Here's a pic of the fuzzy little thing...

Enamel jewelry sampling....

As I stated in an earlier post I've been working with enamels. Well I now have some brand new enameled jewelry and I thought I'd share a sampling of it with you....I'm really LOVING the color I can add to my work and the enamel is a lot easier to work with than I had thought!

Turquoise enameled double chain necklace

Enameled triple circle necklace

Enameled "Leaves" necklace

I don"t have a ton of these items to sell as of yet but I am sure little by little they will be working their way into my booth over the next few months!