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Just a drive by here to show you a couple of my cupcake Christmas gifts...a set of resin cupcake magnets which I could really use to make my fridge look a whole lot better and a pair of Wal-Mart's Secret Treasures cupcake pajamas in purple!I'm wearing them as I type this and they are incredibly soft and incredibly cheap, only $8.50 on sale as well as the nightgown style...also available in red. 
They feel like a super thin, super soft fleece. Really nice and the sizes are true but if you dry your laundry in the dryer rather than on the line like I do, I'd go a size up.
Had a fabulous Christmas holiday. I co-hosted celebrations for 2 of my sisters but didn't have to prep my own house...now THAT's the way to do it! Spent several days in Napa for the holiday, very mellow and easy going. Really nice. Had rain and wind on Christmas Eve but Christmas day was cold, bright and crisp.Drove home the day after and am now in the midst of my husband's 9 day vacation...what a treat! My goal for the new year is to clean out bead bins for plenty of jewelry for you and to focus more on my drawings and sketches to create note cards, bookmarks and art pieces for my MomsArt shop on Etsy.So until 2009, Happy New Year!
The Cookie Sheet was one of my favorite blogs. It was written and illustrated by "Cookie Sunshine" aka Donna Childree Gotlib. These little shoes are just one of her many amazing works of art. I looked forward to her frequent updates about art and life.Over the past couple of years she and her family diligently dealt with her mother's Alzheimer's illness and just recently finally found the perfect home for Elizabeth. Cookie announced this on her blog and then less than a week later the blog was deleted...we couldn't even read back on her past entries to catch up on the story or once again enjoy her
many illustrations. I so wish she would have left it up but her focus now is on her mom and not to entertain her readers, thus the title of this entry. My best to you and your family, Cookie, I miss you and am happy you can provide for your mum.
As far as my own family, we got together with our buddy to toast 2008 and ring in 2009 and celebrate my son's 21st birthday on December 18th! My husband scored a bottle of champagne so we chilled it along with some beer and I had fun whipping up appetizers. My favorite was very simple: cooked bacon cut into squares and topped with appropriately sized shrimp which had been cooked
in butter, white wine, Provencal herbs, salt and pepper.Perfect finger food and yummy too. They look great on the big serving plate my sis bought me years ago.On the business front I've been in cupcake "baking" heaven. I keep finding more glass cupcake beads that inspire me to turn them into earrings and bracelets and most recently, pendants and necklaces.
The awesome cupcakes you see here are nice big ones from Payton Jett. I drew pencil sketches and emailed them to her and she made my visions come to life! The Rubino Glitz is kind of an amber, similar to root beer, but with big gulps of light flowing through it. The little glass heart on top is a pearlized garnet color and the perfect finish.I suspended it and the other bead, Pink Ice Glitz, from spectacular wire lace ribbon imported from Italy. It's made from super thin brass, copper or aluminum wire and then coated with an enamel covering to add its beautiful color that glows softly.
This provides an incredibly soft feel, just like ribbon, but when pulled or twisted the wire creates a lace quality. It is also nickel free and waterproof. The wonderful thing about Italian Mesh Ribbon is that it can be ruffled or straighted, twisted, shaped into flowers.It can be manipulated back and forth from smooth and straight to ruffled for changes according to your wardrobe. Really fun. I've got these listed at www.RockerJewlz.etsy.com.
I'll be running about to different family events over the next week, so I now wish you an early Happy New Year!
Ahhh, my son and I finally decorated our Christmas tree last night. Since the three of us live in a small condo, tree space is a premium! Last year we got clever and got a 6 footer and placed it atop a 2 foot chest, giving us an 8 foot tree. We did it again this time around. My son starts the decoration with draping 6 strands of lights around the tree, 3 clear and 3 colored while I pick the Christmas music cd. He really gets into the tree so that is illuminated fully from trunk to tip. He IS the light master!We both wanted to keep the decorations simple but I must have my icicles so we just used those plus purple, blue & silver round balls...that's it, and we really liked it. My one concession was a big, ballerina glass ornament, but she is long and slender...like an icicle...get it? She has a little pink tutu.
So here are daytime and nighttime shots for you although it probably doesn't mean much unless you are here to see it. Fun, though.As for jewelry, I assembled the last 10 little amazing choco-caramel glass cupcakes I have from Payton Jett into a bracelet with a heart lock clasp with a dangling key. I call it the Key to the Chocolate Cupcake Kingdom bracelet.I mean, don't they look edible to you? They sure do to me!Sales have been strange this season with what's happening in our economy so I was very happy that a few people bought cupcake jewelry and some stickers this week. I happily mailed those packages.
I also cleaned up my Etsy jewelry shop a little to remove pieces that didn't fit the cupcake theme as it seems that is what most viewers and buyers want to see. It looks much better. Much of the jewelry has free worldwide shipping, by the way.I'd love to see some of your holiday decorations if you care to share.
It's my birthday today and I just had to share something funny with you. Last night my hard working husband was getting ready for bed and he said to me, "oh, Honey, I'm SO sorry. I didn't get you anything for your birthday! No card, no flowers...I'm sorry".Well, I raised my eyebrows and replied, "Oh yeah? Well, my birthday isn't until tomorrow, there's still time" and we both laughed.Well, I awoke this morning and immediately checked email at my bedroom computer. My husband had sent a message saying, "Hello Birthday Girl, did you enjoy it? Tell me all about it!". I replied that I had just started my day and there was nothing to tell yet.
So, I finished my emails and was walking downstairs thinking about his greeting and I thought, oh! He must left me a little something this morning before work..THAT's what he meant!
Well..that little something was not only a card, and not only a dozen roses in 4 colors, but also a gigantic cupcake balloon (me LOVE cupcake anything!) and a fresh pot of coffee (his is the BEST). Wow what a huge surprise from someone who had nothing the night before!This means he went out early this morning to do all this just for me before he went to work...what a wonderful guy! I was about to pour my coffee when I noticed the balloon had a little tag
that said "I sing!" (last photo) so I tapped it and this woman, backed up by a full band began to sing "happy birthday" loud and fast! I just cracked up and danced as I poured my coffee...hiLARious! Singing cards I've heard of, but a singing balloon? Never.
When I brushed past the balloon to grab an apple...it played. When I brushed against it to open the curtains...it played.
This thing is so sensitive it takes very little to activate. I called my husband to thank him and when he answered I tapped the balloon again to make it sing for him. He said that there he was in the car on the way home with all my gifts and every bump in the road set that darned balloon off...it sang to him all the way home....funNEEE!Betcha that's the last time I get a singing birthday balloon! Next year my birthday is smack dab ON Thanksgiving which is the day we usually travel to see family so I have to say that I'm glad THIS year's birthday is toDAY so I can go see "Four Christmases" with my son before he cooks me dinner for my present.Oh, my other surprise today was my son leaving a video on my worktable... (yes, videos are apparently still in production) of one of my favorite stories, "A little Princess". I love stories of coming of age and rags to riches and this has all that. Good move, Son.Plus, my friend who is retiring next year just contacted me to say his new manufactured home is being installed on his property today. He is at work and can't be there...he is just itching with excitement, so this is a day to remember for several reasons.
So you can see I have extras to be thankful for this holiday, two men in my life that sure like to make me feel good. I'm thankful I could entertain you today with my story. Happy Thanksgiving.
Just a quickie note:
Today, Halloween, is the last day to enter the Cookie Sunshine contest where the prize is a hand signed 8 x 10 matted and framed copy of her original illustration and rhyme (seen on the left) appropriately named "Princess Pink". Click on the pic for details.
The second pink box is for breast cancer research: you can click it daily and sponsors will financially support research based on the number of clicks. It's totally free and only takes a second. Thanks for your support.
And Happy Halloween! Boo!
Credit..mortgage..crisis. Okay, I said the words and that's all I'll say. I know we are all tired of hearing those words. The price of gas is down and who ever thought we'd say "whew! A gallon of gas is below $3, thank goodness!"It's more intense than Sept. 11th since this is touching me directly. 2 family members lost jobs over it and another has to delay retirement plans since they were based on building a realty business.
It's interesting that a new cupcake shop that opened recently claims a booming business as customers grab for anything that makes them feel oh, so good. Well, that's my goal today, to distract you with some fantasy and a little art. Get away from it all and just enjoy fun & beauty.First up are 2 of 3 stickers I punched this week using an official Disney punch set I found. Nice big shapes: a castle, a Cinderella slipper and a little crown. You can see a big 75 piece set at www.MomsArt.etsy.com.
I used my favorite set of pink, black & white papers I like to call "Paris". You'll find harlequin, polka dot, plaid & solid patterns to make you smile.Next up are my renderings of a custom request for a lampwork glass hot air balloon. Payton Jett asked me to draw my fantasy balloon to use as a pattern when working with her glass. We discussed color and style since getting the black points to NOT run into the yellow balloon was the biggest challenge.
I love that Payton likes to challenge herself with new ideas. I have displayed for you the black & white drawing that I then colored for her...followed by the finished product. How awesome is that???I mean, she got it right...spot on! And this is just for me to wear...but if you'd like one, let me know and we can get the ball rolling for you. If you can dream it, it will come! 
Come see the Jack Skellington Payton designed that I turned into a necklace at www.RockerJewlz.etsy.com. I still have plenty of pumpkin/holiday jewelry left as well.I hope you enjoyed this foray into my little fantasy world. Now I'm off to enjoy the most amazing autumn weather we have ever had here in the S.F. bay area. It's like the summer we didn't get this year: warm sunshine with cool breezes. Yum!
Fleet Week in San Francisco was a great experience. I rode the metro into the city with family and just love riding the escalator up onto street level. It's fun to see the building architecture from that angle.We walked to the Ferry Building...that is its tower in the first photo...where a wonderful farmer's market is located and waited for the "F" line bus to take us to a north bay spot to view the air show. That big tower clock chimed 12 times for noon...very cool.Some of the buses are really old, like maybe from the 30's. Very retro and painted in just about any color you can imagine. Luckily, though, we caught a bigger, modern bus which accommodated my godson's stroller.In less than 10 minutes we were at the famous Pier 39 which is way to commercial for me and the streets were packed with fast walking folk. It was a pleasure to move away from there and stroll the open air crab and seafood stands of Fisherman's Wharf...the smells of hot fresh bread, chowder and boiled crab was fabulous and our mouths began to water for the simple 
picnic lunch we carried with us. I spied a possible viewing area off to our right, but me and Sis realized it was covered at the end and would hinder our view...and just then, a lovely lanky woman walking her dog entered a short dock which, from our perspective, had looked closed. We dashed over to it and saw the sign: "authorized berth owners only". Sis said, hey, we have a berth, just not in San Francisco...let's go!"We were the only people there and it was suddenly very quiet although we could look across these cute little boats and see all the street traffic. We were so happy as we pulled out our fresh rolls, salami, cheese, olives, cherry tomatoes and grapes. Dad dashed off to grab a couple of beers and a cigar.It wasn't long until the stunt planes started the air show and we were dazzled at new moves we hadn't seen in past years....like a vertical climb and then a stall in the same position followed by crazy weaving moves that indeed made it appear the craft would crash but then at the last moment, he'd pull up and make us all 
say "wow". Virgin America debuted their first flyby of their new commercial liner, an Airbus A320 that flew back and forth and maneuvered rather quickly, not what you'd expect from a big jet.The Blue Angels flight team is what we really were there for. They always finish the show. We were totally surprised first with a Blue Angels C-130...a gigantic plane that is large enough to haul a few military tanks. It was painted blue with gold like the fighter jets but it moved in completely unexpected ways!I've seen C-130's fly before and they are so huge they appear very cumbersome and slow...but this guy was awesome...he flew quite quickly and even vertically! None of us had ever seen that before. It was so agile in its moves we were in awe. Then, of course, it was time to be the "winner" that spotted the fighters first. They move so fast that you only have a second or two to hear them before you see them. They flew in differently than in the past...bro in law spotted them from way far off so they weren't a surprise this time. I just kept putting my camera up to the sky and clicking having no idea if I even had them in my sight, but this photo turned out pretty darned good, I think. During our lunch, a boat owner walked past us and we asked if we'd get in trouble or cited for being on this dock. He said, "oh, no, you might be asked to leave if too many additional people enter, though, because basically, this dock is condemned and could crumble under too much weight".Sheesh! Okay. All was well until more viewers entered "our" dock. Several people brought with them freshly fried lunches and suddenly we were inundated with seagulls wanting to partake. Yeah, they had no interest when we had our fresh lunch I mentioned earlier...they wanted the fried food! One even flew right up to a woman's french fries and stole one right in front of her...funny.My godson's favorite part of the day, I think, were those seagulls. And guess what...we did feel the dock sway a bit at one point with all those people on it...a little scary. As we walked back toward the metro, we passed Houston's restaurant and Dad treated us to a yummy dinner. We reached the metro as darkness fell and waited only a few minutes for the train home. All in all a great day with smooth traveling and perfect weather.My only jewelry news is that all Halloween & pumpkin purchases will be shipped within 24 hours so that you have it in plenty of time to enjoy it. Visit me at RockerJewlz.Etsy.com.
A couple of entries ago I promised to talk about Paris and Stoned Birds. My dad attempted to find a home exchange situation so that we could visit Paris for a few weeks in trade for his place in California.A couple of people responded but no deals ever came through. Now, who knows why it didn't happen. It was such a great idea as it would mean we'd only have to scrounge up airfare and fun money. I don't even count food allowance 'cuz we gotta eat no matter where we are!So in place of Paris we've just been having other fun like visiting the Chihuly exhibit (see August 23rd blog entry) in San Francisco, munching warm dinners al fresco during sunset at our favorite winery and soon to attend San Francisco's Fleet Week. So we are surely making up for our lack of European escapades but there is 
always hope and as someone said in a movie, "there's always Paris!".I'm just hooked on Payton Jett's glass work talent. I mention her in every blog but it's because she keeps life fresh by accepting new challenges.I nabbed several of her glass birds recently and 3 of them ended up in my Stoned Birds necklace, thusly named due to only stones being used in this piece...no other materials.
Originally I had a sterling clasp, but then decided to use either glass or stone for the clasp, so it awaits that final component before I list it in my Etsy shop.Another awesome group of lampwork glass beads is this acorn set from Cassie Donlen. I just had to hold these beauties for a while before I could let them go.
I kept the set simple, just adding chunky bumpy Bali silver to reflect the bead bumps. This photo captures their awesome shiny iridescent quality. The colors are chocolate and caramel, but when you get them in brighter light, you discover the faint plum iridescence in the chocolate and the hint of gold in the caramel.
Simply spectacular.
I close with a shot of my most fundesign this week, the Royal Opera Necklace. I've been dying to work with these handcrafted felt balls I got on Etsy and Sigaliot's polymer squares from Israel. The colors and designs are so yummy. I connected them all with various sizes of round and oval sterling silver rings, some smooth, and others oval. A big crescent moon from the Karen Hill Tribe is the focal point.Originally intended to be opera length, it didn't quite get there, but almost at 34 inches...enough so that even with a beehive hairdo, this easily slips over your head so there is no need for a clasp. Come on over to Etsy and see the complete necklace.Finishing up a wonderful week of vacation with my husband. We started with one goal and that was to visit his parents. We ended up seeing nearly the entire family which was a great surprise and celebrated several birthdays in one shot. On the spur of the moment, we headed over to my dad's since it was just a couple of hours away.It was wonderful to introduce my husband to our little secret spot at a country winery that leaves it's beautiful padded wrought iron chairs and tables outside after hours. Seated on a small hill overlooking hundreds of acres of vineyards and mountains, we took a warm dinner to munch while the sun was setting. A few cigars and drinks later, we began to count the stars one by one and await the new moon. Now THAT's a vacation and a great surprise to add to our travels.
**UPDATE: October 16th: I listed "Stoned Birds" choker mentioned in the post above. You can view it by clicking Etsy.
Tonight I'm sharing some beautiful surprises with you.First is an awesome heart bead by Payton Jett. When I saw the photos I just had to have this bead. I turned Payton onto Diane Setterfield's book, The Thirteenth Tale, and after reading about fire and cool grass, Payton was inspired to put that into glass...and Destiny was born.Payton was destined to make the bead, and I was destined to wear
as a sign of an special connection to this story and to each other.
The second photo reflects my discovery of glass painted porcelain bead work by Joan Miller. Click on her name to be linked to her website and just be in awe of the incredible finite detail she pours into her work. I've not seen anything like it. Some of you might know her work as the heads and bodies for Penny Michelle's silver art pieces.
I have to learn more about this process so if you have info to share, books to suggest, tutorials to show me, please do!Next are spectacular custom lotus beads I requested from Aimee Milan at PolyChromeBeads. The silver plum she used for the glass flower caps is my favorite. And the layers you see here? Beautiful, yes, but to see the true depth of them in person is simply jaw dropping. These beads are big and fat and luscious.Lastly, my spirit friend has been telling me of her moonflower which blooms under moonlight...well, they can bloom from late afternoon to morning, but HERS bloom under moonlight which is so much more romantic! I didn't have one of her photos, but Amy J. Clark Haden was kind enough to allow me to use hers. These flowers are the size of your open hand! Like a morning glory, they grow on vines. You can read more at Amy's site by clicking her name.I'd love to hear any comments you have on the topics I've hoped to have entertained you with tonight. The more the merrier!
**UPDATE on October 16th: "Destiny" necklace is now complete and will be displayed in a future blog post.**
The white punks to the left by Payton Jett are the basis of my custom request for all cream ones that are on their way to me. Just envision these already pretty punkins, but completely in cream...vines, stem, everything. I expect them to look quite sophisticated.Black and white birds are in the same box and I can hardly wait to hold them! I have several in exotic glass color mixes, but these are purely black birds and totally white birds. I'm thinking....ribbon would work with these.Marianna Boylan of StarGirlJoolz on Etsy is one of my most loyal commenters on my blog and has been 
kind enough to award me the Brillante Weblog award, which I must honor by passing on to my favorite blogs.So, here goes:1. Of course, being a faithful cupcake lover, I have to keep in touch with the daily entries of Cupcakes Take the Cake blog. Allison, Nichelle and Rachel scour the cupcake world in every category possible to keep us all aware of worldwide cupcake events and new products related in any form or fashion to real, edible cuppies.2. Bella Sinclair Doodlespot. Bella is an illustrator who claims she is "just a girl with a pencil" but every week she displays the sweetest works that in an instant
pull me out of my everyday world and into a whimsical one that just relaxes me and brings a smile.3. The Cookie Sheet. More drawings from Donna Childree Gotlib aka CookieSunshine on Etsy. Donna's art feels very free to me and light and sweet. Some are in pencil, others in color and are accompanied by lovely original poems.4. Building A Bakery from Kari Haskell of the Retro Bakery cupcake shop in Las Vegas. Kari's sassy wit and her USE of capital LETters for emphasis in entries regarding the constant juggle of family and business life just crack me up, keep me laughing and keep me coming back for more!5. My Lily Eden. Sweet photos of the lovely little Lily often grace these pages leading to LemonTreeStudio paper goodies on Etsy and has a weekly Friday freebie! This is a great place for featuring loads of fellow artists so it's not only fun reading but shopping as well.6. The above led me to On The Dot Creations an Etsy seller of computer wallpaper designs whose blog has daily displays of all kinds of finds from Etsy (mostly), has contests quite often along with brain puzzlers that are fun challenges and just about anything you can think of that has dots!7. All Things Cupcake has near daily cupcake related finds. She really digs deep to find the good stuff!Thanks to all of you for the news and entertainment and thanks again to you, Marianna.
Punkies are in season...that's what I call lampwork glass pumpkins. These earrings are up for sale at RockerJewlz on Etsy and feature Lezlie Belanger's torch work. The punkie set below is from Payton Jett that I'm working with right now. Check back to see what they become. The update from "My 1ooth post" on August 19th is that the bird jewelry mentioned is awaiting one final piece...a custom glass toggle clasp! 
I love how the necklace turned out...it has 3 glass birds in it and no silver so it just ripped my heart to add a sterling clasp. I used only stones and glass in the makeup so in a flash of brilliance from an artist, I am going to try a handmade glass toggle clasp that is soon on its way to me. I'll be sure to update you when I receive it and place it on its new home.
Visited Target store yesterday and the end caps feature pink goodies for breast cancer awareness. Whomever is heading marketing for this campaign has really stepped it up the past couple of years. I mean, when Dyson announced a pink vacuum cleaner, I thought how could anyone top THAT???
I need to replace my Brita water pitcher. Brita and Vitapur each have pink ones...wow, that would be wild, but I highly doubt it's appropriate in a household with me and 2 men! 
So I might have to steer towards the pink garden tool set as I KNOW they won't be using them OR doing the gardening. Ha ha. Oh, I didn't say "Chihuly" yet today, so there you go. Gotta get those bloggers here, you know.
I'm getting bolder in ordering larger quantities of bead and component supplies. I just got a big batch of Bali sterling toggle clasps for all the cupcake beads that are being made for me so it feels good to trust that it's not just a big bill facing me, but greater sales.
So with that, I invite you to visit me at www.RockerJewlz.com and www.RockerJewlz.Etsy.com for your jewelry viewing pleasure.
When next you return, my goal is to talk about Paris and Stoned Birds...did I get your attention?
Do you recognize these beads? They were featured in my blog entry titled "I know I know" from August 13th.Well, they have been transformed into a full 3 piece set of jewelry titled Treasure based on the focal that reminds me of a find in a treasure chest. It's chock full of color...thanks to my friend telling me to get more light flowing through it for better photographs!I'm finishing the photography today and should list this on Etsy by tomorrow so be sure to visit me there to see the end result. I'm still surprised at the range of depth and color from light to dark that all work together. Quite spectacular, or "delicious" my friend tells me.
So I'm beginning to think that with all the traffic that has come to this blog since I posted my previous entry regarding Chihuly that I should just say Chihuly in every other post as that seems to be what gets people here! 42 visitors in one day...uh...people, from 5 a day to 42...that's quite a jump!Hey, locked and loaded...moving on from the jewelry world and into our real little world of every day life I have to share something with you that just blew my mind. How many of you know that on foil and plastic wrap boxes there is a little lock on each end to keep the product from rolling out of the box???I did NOT know this...neither did my sis when I asked her and I just couldn't beLIEVE it! I've included close-up shots for you and have to say that "press" as instructed just doesn't work: you have to get in there with a knife to slice two sides of the tab to get it to pressing state....so simple and unbelievable that it's been there all this time.
I mean, come on, who hasn't had a roll slip out and onto the floor. Now, what's the rule on THAT? 2 second rule? 5 second rule? So it just goes to show you that you never know what you'll learn when you visit this blog. Gosh I'm just full of important knowledge...LOL.Okay, gang, I want to hear your comments. I should take a poll on this box lock situation just to see how many of you were in the dark with me!
By the way, the day AFTER we visited the (I'll say it again:) Chihuly exhibit there was a gigantic 3 day concert in Golden Gate Park called Outside Lands...just below the museum we had visited. I didn't find out about it until its first day was completed. I don't know how I missed that when checking the area activities to decide what day to visit Chihuly. I only knew that I didn't want to go into San Francisco on a Friday or into a weekend....and this is why!
Just a drive by here to show you a couple of my cupcake Christmas gifts...a set of resin cupcake magnets which I could really use to make my fridge look a whole lot better and a pair of Wal-Mart's Secret Treasures cupcake pajamas in purple!
They feel like a super thin, super soft fleece. Really nice and the sizes are true but if you dry your laundry in the dryer rather than on the line like I do, I'd go a size up.
