Closet organizing

With all this snowy weather and the fact that tomorrow my parents are arriving from England, for a visit, I have been doing a lot of spring cleaning. I have tackled our bedroom closet, and wound up with a full green garbage bag of clothes to donate to the Goodwill! More room now for new things! I really tried to stick with that rule "that if you have not worn an item of clothing in the last year, it is time to give it up". I also got rid of stained, worn T shirts, and turned them into rags for cleaning. I organized my shoes onto an old bookshelf, and an old coat stand made a great organizer for scarves, hats and belts. Then I purchased those nice sturdy wooden hangers (a great price at Ikea) and rehung all of our clothes onto them, hanging like items together and in color groups. OK, that is either the designer in me or I am just plain anal! Jeans worked best folded up on the closet shelves, and made more room for other items that had to be hung. Now it is easy to see our clothes and even easier to put an outfit together in record time. Now if only the weather would co-operate I could wear some of those nice shoes! Pin It

Don't laugh!

My patio table and chairs

My husband is getting fed up with snowblowing our driveway! Yes, on Sunday, we awoke to another 28cm or11 inches MORE snow on the ground! My folks are coming over from England on Wednesday for a holiday, and I don't think they have ever seen so much snow in their lives! My husband and I decided we would have a "pool", where our family and friends can guess the date when all the snow will be gone at the tree line in our back yard. All who wish to submit a guess will hand over five dollars, and the winner wins all the cash! My guess is May 27th. Oh, and the weather forecast is predicting another 10cm or 4 inches on Wednesday! I think I will just hunker down and work on some jewelery. Pin It

Creative Frustration

I am still working away on that necklace that I mentioned last week! For some strange reason, I seem to be having a hard time being satisfied with the design, it just is not coming together the way I am envisioning it. I am not sure what it is, if it is my state of mind these days ( house bound and hating the weather) or heaven forbid.... some type of artists' block??? I usually have a ton of ideas floating around my head, and I have not encountered being this frustrated over a piece before. Perhaps I am challenging myself too much! Maybe I need to focus more, or relax more! Have any of you felt this way over a design or piece of art work? Perhaps I will take a breather and give it some more thought and hopefully it will get done!

Meanwhile I want to thank KS Jewelry designs for nominating me for the Lemonade Award! Kristin, is a jewelry designer from England, who does some fabulous silver wire jewelry, using lampwork and gemstones. Her flower earrings are adorable, and I personally love her spiral designs! She is very talented designer, please visit her blog to see her work. I received the Lemonade Award previously a few months ago, so this time I am just going to ask you to visit Kristins' great blog instead!
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Don't Ya Just Love Spring???

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Thought you might like to see some pictures of the first weekend of Spring here at my house! Yep...just when you thought it was safe to go outside, along comes another darn snow storm, dumping about 30 cm of snow! Yesterday, we experienced an ordeal that I do not wish to go through again, ever! We were at my sons' hockey tournament in a town approximately 1 hour away, when a winter or should I say "Spring" storm moved in. We were driving home in the country at 9:30 in the evening, and visibility on the highway was virtually nil. It was very scary, dark, blinding snow coming at us and we could hardly see the road. After driving about half way home,in these terrifying conditions, we decided to pull off the road near a small community of homes and we parked in the parking lot of a fire hall to wait out the storm. We slept for a couple of hours in the car...luckily we had a blanket and warm coats on. At about midnight the snow had almost stopped. We resumed our drive, although the roads were treacherous, and we had to go quite slow. This part of the drive is quite hilly, as we were now entering the foothills, and even though my husband has driven this road many times, it was still nerve racking to say the least! Thank goodness we made it home safely. This morning the snow started up again and now it looks like Christmas at our house! Pin It

New projects

I have been working on a new necklace that features the lampwork beads that I won recently, from Deb at Sweetwater Designs. This necklace has really challenged me! It consists of several strands, and to get them all to sit just so, with all the right beads in the proper spots, has taken a lot of trial and error. I keep putting it down and then coming back to it days later, after I have thought it through in my head. Multistrand necklaces are more difficult than they look! I have this vision in my head, and I am trying to get it to come to life in this piece. Any how I hope to finish it up very soon and post some photos of it by early next week! Stay tuned.

*If you haven't already taken the time to do my blog poll in the column on the right, I would appreciate your participation. Thanks!
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More Blog Love!!

**Please fill out my survey on the right hand side! This will help me understand what type of posts you enjoy reading on Hot Rocks blog.

More love for my blog this week, with the fun loving gals from GAFFERGLASSUSA who nominated my blog for the Kreativ Blogger Award! If you make or love lampwork beads, or love anything made with glass, you must stop over at their blog. Thank you ladies!!

In passing on this award I would like to nominate the following fabulous blogs, that have very talented authors and lots of yummy eye candy! Please check them out.

musings

Deronda designs

Three Fates Design

Nico designs

Funky Folky Art Blog

Sand and Sea Designs

Alterity no harm button jewelry

If you've been nominated and would like to pass the award on, here are the guidelines:

1.Copy the award to your site.
2. Link to the person from whom you received the award.
3. Nominate up to 8 other bloggers.
4. Link to those on your blog.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominated

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How do you sell?

My online Etsy shop is only one way that I sell my jewelry. Of course I do several arts and crafts shows in my area and also my best friend actually sells a lot of my jewelry for me. By either by setting it up in the staff room in the school that she teaches at, or by arranging jewelry parties at some of her aquaintences homes she reaches people that I would not necessarily reach. It really expands my customer base, as she lives in the city and I live in the country. Of course she gets compensated for all her hard work and we both benefit in the end! If you sell something handmade, what are the different ways... other than selling online, do you do to market and sell your items? I would love to hear what you do!
here are a few of the items that she took away with her this weekend, that I hope she has success with.

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"Take me to the River" necklace

"Take me to the river....and drop me in the water!"
Song by The Talking Heads... an avante garde new wave band, that was popular in the late 70's and 80's. I always enjoyed watching their videos on TV, as lead singer David Byrne was amusing to watch!

Recently listed in my Etsy shop is this necklace which I named
"Take me to the River", because the focal bead reminded me of the river here near my home. The fabulous textured lampwork pendant bead and ruffle beads are created by USA lampwork artist, Jenn at Blue Seraphim.


I also included two fantastic vintage Swarovski crystals, kyanite and argonite beads, as well as Bali silver and sterling silver beads and charms. I created the spirals on the pendant with sterling silver wire, which was then hammered for a flattened, smooth look.

Oh, and by the way, if you loved the post on RockerJewlz, please go to her blog between now and April 4th to enter her giveaway. She has some lovely prizes combining some of her jewelry and her fab paper crafts!!
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Featured artist RockerJewlz

Today I would like to introduce to you, a multi talented and creative lady, Julie, from RockerJewlz. Julie entered my "Name that Necklace" contest in January, where she placed second, winning a feature spot here on my blog. Julie creates fabulous jewelry and many of her pieces are designed using very delicious looking cupcake beads. The cupcakes come in many "flavors" and color combinations including chocolate for all you chocoholics out there! I just want to jump right in and eat these, they are so adorable! Not only does she design jewelry, but she also makes darling seasonal stickers and confetti. There are items for all occasions, birthdays, showers, holidays and very cute girlie themes as well. Check out all her Easter themed goodies featuring spring chicks, colored eggs, bunnies and ducks that are in her shop now. I could go on and on, but please go see for yourself!

Please visit her Etsy shops, RockerJewlz and MomsArt and check out her sweet items!

Here is what Julie had to say about herself and her art:


My thanks to Susan at www.hotrocksglassjewels.blogspot.com for featuring me on her blog this month!

I’m a mom who was looking for a project when my only child entered college and my free time opened wide. A friend introduced me to lampwork glass beads and I was totally hooked. The flow of light through glass has always fascinated me but I had no idea what to do with the beads if I bought them. My friend Gloria suggested designing jewelry. So after a few beginner classes, I was ready to form RockerJewlz Jewelry Designs and I had a blast building my own website at www.RockerJewlz.com.


I started out with simple pieces, focusing on using the amazing glass cupcake beads I was finding as featured in my Cupcake Elegance bracelet and Cherry Buttercream earrings. Cupcakes remain my most popular item and as of Valentine’s Day am making heart theme jewelry year round as well. Sterling silver, handcrafted silver from Bali & Thailand, hand dyed ribbons and other components are featured in my jewelry to provide a truly handmade, one of a kind (OOAK) work of wearable art you‘ll be proud to possess.


Glass artisan Payton Jett and I collaborated in 2008 to design some amazing larger than usual cupcake glass beads…my cupcake drawings came to life in her glass work as you see in the spectacular Deluxe Fantasy Dream Cupcake series, as in the Triple Valentine Pink Necklace on silk ribbon. Be sure to see the solid silver cupcakes she designed too!

In 2008 I also fulfilled a crafting desire by opening a paper crafts shop at MomsArt.etsy.com in tribute to my mother’s artistic endeavors. She used to draw flowers colored with pencils for all of our family’s birthday, anniversary and special celebration cards. Eventually I will be reproducing those. For now, you can find really fun confetti & stickers that I hand punch in my home studio. Cinderella shoes, castles, baby shower themed items along with, yes, cupcakes, hearts, and birds are just some of the fun shapes you’ll find there. Ribbon & buttons are also featured.



Custom design in jewelry and paper crafts is what I love most as collaborating with new clients that become fast friends is fun beyond compare.

This year I am adding giveaways to my blog at www.RockerJewlz.blogspot.com so be sure to visit me there to win some awesome goodies.

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Let's Be Friends

Wow...I am honoured and very pleased to receive the following
"Let's be Friends Award", which was awarded to me by two fabulous bloggers, and friends, Swapna at Crafts and Cooking, and Kirstie at Bonhomie Jewelry. Thank you both so much! It is a wonderful feeling to know that I am counted among these two fine ladies as their friend, and that they enjoy my little blog. This award states that...

These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

So now I am supposed to send this award to eight more of my friends. Mmmm, there are so many of you that I consider friends, and I hope I will not offend anyone if I miss you out this time. However I must choose, so here goes:

Nancy at Nanjodogz
Deb at Sweetwater Designs
Elaine at ChatElaine Jewellery
Ruthie at Rose Works Jewelry
Joanna at Unique You
Altered Events and My Gypsy Goods
Deb at Stroll through Storyland
Reeni at Cinnamon, Spice & Everything Nice
Five o'clock Somewhere
Anna at A Rose by Name
Judy at More than Sew So
Periwinkle Studio
Nicole at Beadwright

Oh dear, as you see I chose more than 8, and I could go on and on, because there are so many more of you that I enjoy connecting with, and reading your fine blogs, laughing along with you or enjoying your art and creative skills!

Stay tuned, tomorrow I am featuring a very talented and creative person here on my blog! Pin It

Colors of the Caribbean

Hello to all my readers....I am finally back from a wonderful vacation in the tropical sun! It certainly was a marvelous adventure, visiting some amazing countries in the Caribbean. Yes, the water really is that pretty aqua blue color! I believe I am relaxed, rejuvenated and ready to get back to reality and designing once again. I must say a very special "Thank You!" to all my Entrecard friends, who continued to drop in on my blog while I was away. It certainly is very much appreciated! Now... hop aboard the banana bus, relax, sit back and take a trip to the tropics for free.
Here are my Colors of the Caribbean!



Cheers! Pin It