Happy Mother's Day

I hope everyone had a great day today, we started a fun tradition. Everyone brought different flowers so we could trade and pot up our own flowers for the summer. It was great!

Happy Arbor Day!

Last week I received 10 douglas firs that I ordered from The Arbor Day Foundation. They had to soak in water and then I planted them around our property.

I planted all ten around the property, I dug deep holes so the roots could easily grow and stuck sticks around the trees to keep the deer from trampling them. You can see a 'cliff' edge behind the tree in my neighbors yard. Part of our yard has a sharp drop off that I call 'the cliff'. My hope is by planting these trees they will take root and keep the dirt in place. We have had several bigger trees fall and as they fall nothing new is able to grow because the deer have eaten everything bare. Deer aren't supposed to eat coniferous trees. Knock on wood.

I hope that our trees flourish, I just received 5 more in the mail of different coniferous varieties. I can't wait to get them planted!

Happy Anniversary Jewelry!

Today is my Mother-in-law and Father-in-laws 30th anniversary. For their anniversary my Father-in-law, Jeff, commissioned me to make a necklace out of Beth's favorite antique buttons. So above you can see some of the antique buttons along with strands of swarovski pearls. 

This is the necklace I came up with. It's five strands of pearls, swarovski crystal, 14k yellow gold and sentimental antique buttons. The strands are of varying lengths that lay nicely together. And it was made with lots of love.

I also made a pair of mismatched earrings, I thought these two buttons were really fun together. The left one glows white in the light, and the right black button has crystals that sparkle around the edge.

Here is the piece on a black background for a different perspective.

And a close up, I love the mother of pearl quality many of the buttons have. I used silk to string everything and liked having the silk string visible on the buttons. 

Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day from my bit of earth to yours!

New Plant - the Hellebore

I bought a new plant to try out in my yard, a hellebore. They are supposed to bloom from December through the spring. I'm hoping it's a hardy plant and I get to see blooms in the snow next year. If you Google hellebore you'll see all kinds of beautiful hybrids. 

Where have I been?

I did want to let my readers know, with my sincerest apologies why I haven't been blogging as much as I'd like (which is daily since I love to share cool things with you). For 10 years I've been dealing with a very painful pelvic condition that has been flaring up again, since this past August. I'm going to write about my condition (vestibulodynia or dyspareunia) in the hope that it will help someone to get the help they need. Writing or speaking about this pain can be uncomfortable for many people, but one in four women will have a pelvic pain issue, and too often they're too embarrassed to talk to their doctors. I want you to know that you're not alone and there is help out there.

Let me explain my pain. Many of my leg and hip muscles have tightened so badly (from my pain) that sitting for long periods hurts. My vestibule - the vaginal opening - was so sensitive that I couldn't wear pants back when I was diagnosed correctly in 2008. My specialist, Dr. Richard Marvel in Baltimore, diagnosed me because I jumped off of a table in pain when he touched my vestibule with a Q-tip.  Obviously, I couldn't have sex without pain, either.  

I had surgery five years ago to remove some of the most painful tissue. In August my pain flared up again, badly, and I've been in physical therapy since October 2012. Right now I have an awesome team of doctors and physical therapists, including Dr. Lara Burrows and Amy Senn at Summa Healthcare in Akron. They are doing everything they can to help - with medicine, physical therapy and mental therapy that have helped me to feel better and cope with the pain when it flares up. I'll be attending a medical conference for patients with my condition (and similar conditions) in April. I plan on telling you all more about this because if those of us with these conditions don't speak up there won't be money invested for research to help us find solutions. 

The conference I will be attending is the Alliance for Pelvic Pain. 

Here are a few organizations with helpful information, The National Vulvodynia Association and the International Pelvic Pain Society.

You are welcome to ask me questions, though I am not a doctor. And if you go to a doctor and feel as though your concerns were not addressed you can look up doctors on the sites listed above. Keep persisting until you find a doctor that listens to you.

If me speaking out about this helps one person get help for their issues, it was well worth it. 

And I will continue to post more art and jewelry.

Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland

Last week I attended the opening of Kate Gilmore's work at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland. The piece above was my favorite. Taking it to the basics, she fills pots with paint and climbed these steep stairs in heels and threw the pots. I wish I could have seen this preformed live. The  paint was still a little wet when we arrived to the exhibit. It reminded me of a piece I did back in high school, where I made a piece in Jackson Pollock's style, it was fun, messy and exhausting.

Thank you to my friend Michelle Pajak-Reynolds for inviting me out to this event!

The new MOCA building is a work of art itself designed by Farshid Moussavi.

In the gift shop I found the cutest little (bobble head like) creations called Hoptimist by Ehrenreich Denmark. I bought the little blue guy, he brings joy to my bench!

The New Bathroom

I teased you last night with before photos of the bathroom so here is the rest. Starting to frame things in. 

While not being worked on the bathroom had to be sealed with plastic. We moved the doorway so it was a big expanse to seal.

The bathroom with tile! Wahoo!

The toilet and vanities are in!

Welcome to our new bathroom!

Check out the pocket door! Saved a lot of room.

There is a shower head in the ceiling!

The project turned out really well. The bathroom feels so much bigger now and has much better everything! Especially no unintended hole in the tub. : )

The Old Bathroom

Here is what our bathroom looked like originally, very brown.

If you look closely at the tub you'll see a crack/hole in the corner, Joe did that with his foot. We haven't used this tub in over two years.

Overall brown and dark, can you tell I didn't like it much.

That leads us to gutting day!

Stay tuned and see the final product tomorrow.

Lovely Tree Pin

This pin is made of platinum, diamonds, ruby and aquamarine by Suna.

To those at the BMAC Show 2013...

 

This year I won't be attending the Buyers Market of American Craft Show. I attended it first while working for Barbie Levy Jewelry Designs, then I worked for the BMAC Show as the Jewelry & Suppliers Manager and last while working for Bezak Glass. I got to see the show from both sides and the entire experience was great. I've met and befriended so many wonderful people.

 

Above are Babybud Long Earrings by Tschetter Studio, she'll be at the show in booth 1000. She is a joy to talk to!

 

 

The next piece, above, is a Pave Diamond Brooch - Spiral by 314 Studio. I love her style, she's always coming up with something new and I own a couple pairs of her earrings (see a pair here). She'll be in booth 918.

 

 

 

These earrings, above, are from Bree Richey Designs 'Swirl Collection'. I love their movement and how the silver hugs the pearl. Bree's mother is Marlene Richey who wrote the book 'Profiting by Design; A Jewelry Maker's Guide to Business Success.' Jewelry making runs in the family, Bree will be in booth 1018.

 

 

Black Birds perched on a branch by Chee-Me-No. In booth 1318. This exhibitor's black birds caught my eye.

 

 

Above is a granite and black diamond necklace by Flying Anvil Designs, Julie Jerman-Melka. You can see Julie's work and her booth here. I've known Julie and her husband since I began working for BMAC and I think of them as family. I'm sad I won't be there to give them hugs, but I'll be thinking about them.

 

And I wish everyone at the show good luck. To the artists make great sales. To the buyers find wonderful artwork. To the show producers and everyone I hope the show goes smoothly and your feet don't hurt too much! I'll be thinking about you all, you are in my heart and I hope to see you soon.

 

Love,

Valerie

 

P.S. To those at the Arts Business Institute, learn, makes friends and ask questions!

Homemade Marshmallows

A few weeks ago we were watching a episode of 'The Next Iron Chef' and someone made marshmallows and I thought you can make those? It just never occurred to me so I had to give it a try. 

I used Alton Brown's recipe. 

The mixture does have to be spread out on a sheet pan that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar and corn starch.

Then it must sit for 4 hours to harden.

Next you put it out on a cutting board and cut them up into little squares with a pizza cutter.

Look how cute they are!

And I put them in my hot chocolate using the Hershey's cocoa hot chocolate recipe which is delicious!

And I used my favorite Halloween Mug! Have a happy weekend everybody!