It's Monday. Cue the Boomtown Rats.

What a weekend it was, full of good thing, happiness and creativity!

My youngest sister graduated from Indiana University this weekend for starters. I am so very proud of her and the hard work she has done. She is a stellar example to her nieces and nephews. She's off to grad school next, specifically.. law school. So her adventure continues for another few years.

My oldest daughter lives in Iowa with her father, she moved up there last summer. I was so happy on Friday when I checked the mail and there was a Mother's Day card from her. To make it even sweeter, she called me yesterday morning and wished me a happy Mother's day as well. I look forward to picking her up in a few weeks for her summer vacation. My partner and I have been planning a long weekend in Chicago with the kids. We're planning on a day at the Brookfield Zoo, a day at the Shedd Aquarium and a trip to the Field Museum. A little of something for everyone, and before it gets too warm out to really enjoy it all.

I got to be creative this weekend as well. I tried out a few new things and was pleased with the results. One of which is very rough, but has so much potential. I was looking at some chain stores jewelry offerings and noticed a trend towards adjustable bangles. They looked to be pretty simple, with 2-4 little charms dangling from them. Dangly little charms are no problem, but the bracelet itself... that is another matter. After a bit of study time, I decided that I could in fact do it. I broke out my 16g copper wire and got to work. The piece is rough. It has plier marks. It's not perfectly round. It has room for some improvement. But I did it. See!




I also fabricated some ear wires that turned out ok. I need to scale them down size wise, but they are pretty cute.

Finally, I got my Etsy shop opened and I actually have pieces listed there!! This is really exciting for me, because of the amount of traffic that Etsy sees on a monthly basis. I was really nervous, and researched myself into a corner there for a bit, but I finally took the plug. I will be adding a link to the Etsy shop here soon. In the meantime feel free to visit it!

Iced Adornments Jewelry on Etsy

Technorati Tags: Etsy, jewelry, Iced Adornments, bangles, vacation

What a crazy week!

Last week was just a little hectic. Along with the normal small child insanity, I had extended family chaos on top of it. Not that I minded one bit, I love my whole family. The curveballs life is throwing just make me a stronger, better person.

I got a text from my mother Weds afternoon after I had gotten home from her house. My grandmother had called and needed outpatient surgery on Thursday. I called my partner at work and told him to find some coverage, I had to go out of town. I was not going to let my mother go deal with it on her own. I managed to pack and wind up a bunch of rings for chainmaille, plus write out detailed instructions for the kids before I had to leave. Thursday morning, I was forced to call the Dr's office because the littlest was coughing. The littlest has asthma, so when he starts coughing we get him in fast so it doesn't move to bronchitis. The awesome ladies at our Dr's office managed to get him in that morning.  I informed my partner of this just as my dad was pulling up to pick me up.

The drive to my grandmother's was uneventful. I was surprised to see a large wind farm between Peoria and Lincoln. It was impressive to see so many wind turbines dotting the landscape, even if the weather was grey and rainy. My grandmother lives north of here, in a small town called Galva. I spent a good portion of my teen years in this small community and it had been a few years since I had been back there. I was surprised to see the town's pool buildings had been painted a boring taupe. The decay of a small town that is slowing dying was a little painful to deal with. So many homes and businesses were missing or in dangerous disrepair.

Grandma's procedure went well. It took a lot longer then we intially expected due to the case before hers. She was scheduled to go in at 12:30pm but didn't go back til 3pm. We got her home safe and sound and parked her in the sunroom, as she was still a bit unsteady from the sedation. Friday, my mother and I ran some errands for grandma which made us chuckle a little bit. Then we popped over to see my great aunt Maxine at the independent living facility she lives at. I feel awful that Auntie Mac has never met my youngest, and she hasn't seen my 3 year old since she was 6 months old. But while she's a little more frail looking, she sill wears her nylons and blue eye shadow. She was happy to see us. Then we popped over to Bishop Hill for some lunch. My mother is addicted to Swedish Meatballs. I had to partake in them as well, and they were very good. The bread pudding was amazing! We hit a few shops and it was nap time.

I took a whole bunch of jumprings with me to keep me occupied during the downtimes in Galva. I had intended to work on a Jens Pind necklace, but discovered I made 3mm rings instead of the 2.5, so I started on a byzantine piece. My grandmother became interested in what I was doing and decided she wanted it for her own. My 81 year old grandmother, wearing maille!

Busy Busy here. New things are coming, left and right and I am excited about it all.