New Hammers!!!

WOO HOO!! I got 7, count 'em, 7 , new hammers in the mail this morning. It's my birthday present to my self, just a day late.

I got 3 new Fretz hammers from Otto Frei! They have this cool discount section with "seconds". These hammers are excellent! The reason they're seconds is something like the wrong color of stain on the handle (I got one of those) or a small blurb where the name is pressed on the side of the head, or a pinhole in the handle. Nothing major, just enough to keep them from charging full price. So I got a #1 planishing hammer, a double ended insert hammer with 9 interchangable plastic tips, and a small embossing hammer. I saved $98!!!

I also got 4 hammers from Harbor Freight! I got 2 new ball peins, 1 stubby and one full size, a 2#brass head deadblow, and a waffle-faced ripping hammer that has a really cool texture on the face.

It's a wonderful day!

Well, it was. Now I have to clean my house and I'd rather take a beating! =0 I HATE housework. Susie Homemaker, I am not!!

Proximity Award!

Well, I was just catching up with my blogger friends and found out that I received an award from Barrie.

I copied this from her blog:

Proximidade is described as follows:
‘This blog invests and believes in PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes for 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!’

The rules are: This blog award should be sent to your favorite eight bloggers and they, in turn should forward to eight of their favorites. You should include the text for Proximidade (above) in your announcement blog.

So, now I’ve got to pass this award to 8 wonderful people, and I choose:

Diane
Chris
Freida
Stacey
Joanne
Melissa
Swati
contrariwise

Each one deserves this award!

I Can't Believe...

it's almost my birthday, again! CRAP!



I'll be 43 on Thursday. Where did the time go? I feel like a 20 year old, trapped in a 43 year old body! LOL What is even more amazing to me is that my baby brother will be forty on the first of February. Time flies! Where does it go?



I've been feeling pretty creative lately, so I made a few new things.


These are ruby jade briolettes wrapped in sterling.
8g copper wire that I hammered to death, then wrapped in sterling.

A poppy made of hammered brass and copper with sterling center.

My absolute favorite earrings. Silver plated brass tulips with balled copper stamins and brass and copper bead caps.

And a set of stacking rings in sterling, brass and copper.

I have another new pair of earrings, but it was to late to take pics today. I still have tons of ideas too, so expect more new things soon!

Louisiana Weather!

Well, Tuesday it was freezing, Wednesday was chilly, and Thursday and Friday were HOT! That's our crazy La. weather for you.

It's still warm now, at 9pm, but it's supposed to rain. YUCK! I hate rain! I got a new invisible fence for Red and I want to hook it up this weekend. It's the kind you bury in the ground and the dog wears a collar that shocks him if he gets too close. It sounds mean, but the dog learns really quickly where he can go and where he can't. It has flags to mark it, and they also learn by those. It's better than having him get in the road and get hit by a car. My sons can't believe I'm going to do it. They know how soft-hearted I am, and they think it's awful that I'm willing to shock a dog that I love. I don't like it, but it beats the alternative.

Here's my big baby. He's an American Rednose Pitbull. He really is a sweetheart! He just looks bad.

It's so cold!

It has been cold all day and it's supposed to be about 20 degrees tonight. For the South, that's COLD!

It's too cold to go to the shop and work, but yesterday was warm and gorgeous, so I did work a little.

I'm still doing a little wire wrapping, and I really like the way it looks!

These are simple sterling sticks, hammered into a "dogbone" shape. I wire wrapped some pretty little orangy-red CZ's and dangled them from the ends.


This pair is hammered for texture and I added a little brass flower and a sterling ball center. It's a good way to use scrap silver!

The Indiana Pendant was an alchemy request in my Etsy shop. The customer loves it, so I love it.

This is my favorite! It's a gorgeous moss quartz that I wrapped with sterling silver, then added a tiny silver dragonfly and a 3mm green onyx.


I have reopened my 1000Markets shop and I'm hoping that I've solved the problem with Amazon Payments. I wish they would accept Paypal there, but for now they don't, so fingers crossed for Amazon. I could really use the sales right now because my hubby may be laid off work in a couple of weeks. Yikes! I hope not!

More new things

I managed to make a few new items.
This first one is a pair or marquise cut mystic blue topaz earrings.

These are my shabby chic dragonfly earrings, that I made using some little textured silver discs that I bought from Barrie.

And this is a copper and sterling spinning bangle bracelet to go with my spinning rings.

and one really old thing! My truck is 20 years old this year, making it an antique. It still has the original motor with over 279,000 miles on it. It still runs like a scalded dog, and I love it!

Custom order cufflinks

I like a challenge sometimes. Makes me have to think and be creative!

A customer saw my treble clef jewelry and asked if I could make a pair of cufflinks with a bass clef. hhhmmm. A challenge!

I looked for some charms in brass and sterling, but the only ones I found I didn't like, so I decided I could make them myself with copper wire, and I did it!

I just melted a ball on 20g wire, bent it like I wanted , then hammered the curve flat and made a pointed end. Then I made 2 flattened copper balls to finish it.

I put them on 18g sterling squares and used sterling silver findings that I got from Iza's Supplies on Etsy.

I like the way they turned out, and the customer said they are perfect for her husband, who plays the bass.

I love it when a design actually works like it should! They were just like I saw in my mind's eye, and that doesn't happen for me very often! :)

I rang in the New Year playing Playstation games with my son Tyler. I'm such a party animal! LOL

I hope you had fun whatever you chose to do, and have fun all year!