Charming...

Sally Jean I will never be, but these are so much fun! If you like soldering , Sally Jean Alexander has a fabulous book - Pretty Little Things.

I am looking forward to a Wonderful Ski trip to CO.

Will this be the year for a really wonderful trip?

Last year an ice storm arrived the morning of departure. We were knocked into the median of the interstate on the way to the airport. The jeep was badly scarred, rear fender was flapping but still drivable - on to the airport. Our flight was cancelled and rescheduled twice before we arrived - the day continued in the same manner. By 5:00pm the airport is completely shut down and we were on a flight the following morning. After several phone calls we found some hotel rooms at Harrah's. (We live 50 miles from the airport and we have a group of 8)

Before 10:00 pm our flight has been cancelled and rescheduled for not the next day but the day after next! We canceled this time and came home and put my jeep in the body shop.

This year we are taking Mike's truck to the airport.

I have many, many ski stories - Blizzards that forced us off the highway only to sit at a rest stop for 7 hours with 6 children and 5 adults (we used to drive from MO to CO 18 hours - straight through), Flat tires. Multiple ER visits, and oh, so many other things.

This year I am not skiing - I am going to read, shop, knit , and read some more.

It will be a wonderful ski trip!

I will let you know next week.

a bird and a house ...not a birdhouse

Some days I go to my studio fully intending to make something fabulous.
Some days that happens and some days it doesn't.
I like to keep small projects on hand for the days that I just want to be busy creating.
I just bought these cute little kits last week at www.smallstudioproductions.com
Ginny Smallenburg does a great job of keeping her offerings interesting, fresh and fun.
She also ships quickly. I have her blog listed - check it out.
The picture in the house is my Mother at age 2.
The egg in the bird is a small plastic egg I cut in half .
Now go to Ginny's 'Small Studio' and shop!

Happy Birthday!

Today is a very special Lady's birthday!

This is the necklace and earrings(not shown) I made for her using some charms she had given me from her stash of broken but 'dear to her' jewelry.

This is a blurred picture but I decided to post it anyway.

beads in a pod

Resin- book page-copper frame

copper bead pod

The weather has been nasty here but the sleet / snow is melting and the brown of winter is showing through now. The sun is shining and that is the best I can hope for during the month of February. February is my least favorite month of the year. I actually count off days in February - it also has the weirdest spelling! anyway, I made these copper pods - tough on the hands - I doubt I make anymore.

I also played with resin and pages from an old German book . I will do more of this technique.

little bird

I am very pleased with the outcome of this piece - the assorted wires were woven and hammered then sandwiched between an etched nickle background and a copper etched frame.
This is' little bird'. A small necklace version of the birds in the earlier post.
I do sell my jewelry. All of my jewelry is 'one of a kind'. I rarely do special orders.
But if you see something you like, you can email me pjdutton93@yahoo.com . Please put stuff pj made in the subject line to inquire about availability and price.

For the Birds

First you need to know -I am afraid of birds - the sound of their wings fluttering freaks me out. I love to feed and watch them. I like to use bird images in art work. And in spite of my fear(or maybe this feeds my fear) I watch the movie The Birds every time it is on TV. That being said , I also enjoy making birds - these birds. The Nov./Dec. 2007 issue of Somerset Studio had a featured article written by Jeanette Jansen http://www.carolinaartist.com/ about the 'Garage Birds' she makes and sells. To date I have make 15 or so of these birds. Take a look.

Momma's Party

Tomorrow is my Mother's birthday. Today we had a party for her - just family - but our family has a way of filling up the house. There were only 11 of us. My sister Susan , my nephew Dustin and our daughter Meg (plus husband and son) all live out of state.

We ate, she opened gifts, we played ping pong - I even hula hooped with the grand kids. They have all gone now and the house is quiet.

I am posting more jewelry pieces. The copper I use in my jewelry is reclaimed from the valleys of my roof. We had a new roof put on a couple of years ago and I split the bounty with the roofer.