Before-The-End- Of-The-Year Resolutions

Do you have something that you KNOW you should be doing, but are dragging your feet about it? My big areas of procrastination have been getting inventory back into my etsy store, and reorganizing my studio, to make it more efficient. Lately it seems like I've been stretched so thin, and for some reason keeping my etsy shop full and my studio organized have both completely fallen by the wayside. Here are my before-the-end-of-the-year resolutions: I will start filling my etsy shop with the pieces that come back from being published, and I will start organizing my studio. There. I've put it on my blog, so I have some sort of accountability now. Right?

Today I listed this bracelet:

It came back from Jewelry Affaire, along with a few other pieces, and I'll be listing them over the course of the next few days, as time allows. 

I also had three articles published in GreenCraft Magazine and one in Somerset Studio, which was a happy surprise!

Above: My Christmas ornaments, made from repurposed bullet shell cashings, salvaged tin, and chandelier crystals made the cover of GreenCraft this month! I am very excited about that.

They also published my article about broken key jewelry:

... and another article featuring these pieces, made from recycled egg cartons:

Eventually I'll get all of these into my shop!

In the mean time, I am beginning that daunting task of re-organizing my studio yet again.  Here are some progress shots:

BEADS IN LAZY SUSANS, ORGANIZED BY COLOR

SOME OF MY FINISHED INVENTORY

I'm determined to get my studio back in order. Tidiness is such a huge struggle for me. Sigh. Mr. Bees is a saint for putting up with it!

Leaving you with this (very appropriate) quote:

"Clutter is not just the stuff on your floor - it's anything that stands between you and the life you want to be living."

-Peter Walsh

Components

This has been a fabulous week! First of all, I got my copy of Jewelry Affaire, and I had two articles in there! Yay! My bee bracelet was in the article:

and also this one:

and this initial necklace:

When I sent the necklace article in to Stampington, I had just finished two custom initial necklaces for different women whose names were Marge and M'Liss, so I had some extra m's lying around. I could wear this one myself, when it comes back!




Other than that bit of good news, it has been a quiet week, but very productive, as far as components are concerned. Sometimes I have weeks at a time where I feel like just buying and making components. This has been one of those weeks.


 First I ordered these really cool vintage tin butterflies from Venezuela, and they showed up almost instantly.

Then my husband's sister gave me this fabulous lace! My husband's grandmother and great aunt made it. I can't wait to figure out how to use it.

I found these wooden beads at a junk store for $2

I painted these faux Anasazi pottery shards:

...and these faux sea pottery shards:

... and I have been making hundreds and hundreds of ceramic clay components. 

Here's the first batch. I fired them to cone 6, without glaze, and then painted them with acrylic paints and finished them with metallic Gilders Paste.

I have at least 600 more beads fired and ready to paint and wax, and I ordered some new wax colors. Like I said, it's been a productive week for making components. 

For now, I'll leave you with this quote, by Aristotle:

The whole is more than the sum on the parts.

- Aristotle 

Next time I'll have things made from those parts!