Thursday, May 31, 2012

challenge of literature blog hop

i had such a hard time choosing my piece of literature. i wanted it to be something that really spoke to me. something that had deep personal meaning for me. so i decided to do something totally different by choosing one of my own poems. i hope that's not cheating!

i wrote this poem about my sister. she's a gifted writer; a poet, playwright, and fiction writer. but while she was in graduate school, she wasn't able to write. i think she just had to choose what she had time for and extra-curricular writing got dropped. i was heartbroken about it.

so here it is.


becca

you are a poet in the quiet
moments, a whittler of
words, slowly paring down
to the meaning of it. don't

silence your voice with the busyness,
errands and agendas of little
consequence that will
or won't get done. breathe
and it is of more importance
than anything else you've ever done.


i wanted to convey a sense of peace. to create a space to breathe in and rest. i chose sea glass in this watery tone. breathe in.




i created this focal using a piece of discarded copper from the recycling bin. i just love the patina. i added the pearl cabochon in a sterling bezel and stamped breathe. i used a fine tip brown sharpie to color the letters and my dampened finger to remove the excess, so as not to disturb the patina. then i punched two holes at the top.




i chose this patinaed circle from the recycle bin, as well. i don't know how whoever created this got the green. isn't it amazing? i left it exactly as i found it except for adding the holes to create the link.


but i also wanted to tie in the idea of busyness. that push/pull of conflicting priorities. and i happened to have in my stash this amazingly perfect clasp by earthenwood's melanie brooks. love love love her work! check it out! the little bit of tag chain is meant to represent all the items on our agendas.



and here's another view of the back of the necklace. sea glass and freshwater pearls. don't they just whisper, "breathe..."?



here it is all together. i just love how it turned out! i hope you do, too! i was excited to not have to buy a single thing for this piece. i was able to pull everything from my stash!


remember. breathe. take the time to find some space today to be at peace.



now, go visit the rest of the hop!

update
several people have asked what my sister thinks of the necklace. yesterday i gave it to her as a gift and she said, "thank you so much! i really wanted it but didn't want to ask you for it." so, yay!!!!

Erin Prais-Hintz  -our intrepid hostess!
Rebecca Anderson
Rose Binoya
Lori Bowring Michaud
Shannon Chomanszuk
Marlene Cupo
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Kim Dworak
Beth Emery you are here!-
Therese Frank
Amy Freeland
K Hutchinson
Jennifer Justman
Susan Kennedy
Linda Landig
Lisa Lodge
Lisa Lowe
Kirsi Luostarinen
Beth McCord
Melissa Meman
Sharon Misuraco
Tracey Nanstad
Melinda Orr
Kashmira Patel
Alice Peterson
Sally Russick
Niky Sayers
Pam Sears
Amy Severino
Tracy Stillman
Emma Todd
Melissa Trudinger
Lesley Watt
Shai Williams

Saturday, May 26, 2012

cocktail blog hop





Lemon Drop Martini Recipe




1 1/2 ounces vodka (use a good-quality vodka)
1/2 ounce orange liqueur (Triple Sec, Grand Marnier, Cointreau, etc.)
1 teaspoon superfine sugar or to taste*
3/4 ounce freshly-squeezed lemon juiceIce cubes
Superfine sugar for dipping
Twisted peel of lemon

 
Preparation:

Mix the vodka, orange liqueur, sugar, and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice; shake well (supposedly the cocktail is to be shaken 40 times to make sure the sugar is well blended).

Pour strained liquor into sugar-rimmed martini glass and garnish with a twisted peel of lemon.

To create a sugar-rimmed glass, take a lemon wedge and rub the drinking surface of the glass so it is barely moist. Dip the edge of the glass into the superfine sugar.

Makes 1 serving. 

note: i didn't write this recipe or take this photo. it's from 'what's cooking america' by linda stradley.

so i've never tried a lemon drop. i'll just have to take a good friend's opinion; she said, "it's delicious!" i'm thinking it's like a zingy lemonade. i'm just imagining that. so fresh. so summery. mmm.
 since i couldn't base my creation on the taste, i thought i'd go with the color. when i was looking through my stash i was thinking about the color of lemons, rather than the color of the drink, which is, as you can see from the picture above, the color of lemonade. i had only a few beads in that color, which i grabbed, and they ended up in the necklace.
i chose for my focal a wood disk that i had previously wood-burned with one of my own drawings. i colored it with prismacolors and thought it would be perfect for this summery piece.

i wire-wrapped a vintaj twig with little yellow seed beads and created a connector with it.

this little yellow crocheted disk i made about a year ago and thought it would be perfect.


so here's the complete necklace.




for the bit at the back, i wove a piece of silk through some brass chain. i used a vintaj toggle.
i added the sodalite briolettes and the mother-of-pearl stars thinking that i would want to drink my lemon drop on my porch, gazing at the stars. and it gives my little birdie someplace to fly, which birds really like to do.

Monday, May 7, 2012

happy birthday to me!

it's my birthday today. i don't know how i feel about birthdays, now that i've reached adulthood. they were such big deals when we were little, and now it's like, 'ho, hum'.

maybe i'm not celebrating them right.

so today i'm going to drink a diet coke (yay!) and read 'the applause of heaven' by max lucado and steep myself in God's love for me. i'll go for a walk and notice all that nature has to offer. maybe i'll do some business related stuff, maybe not. and i'll breathe.



wish me luck.