I want to wish everyone out there Happy Holidays!!!  May they be filled with love and beauty!  See you in the New Year!

Surprise!  I'm having a Holiday Sale in my Etsy Shop.  Hop on over for 20% off the entire shop!  This sale runs through til Tuesday Morning!  Enjoy :)

Although I have not been making new work (I still have a good amount of stock available), I have been using my creative energy in other ways.  For one, wedding planning takes up quite a bit of time and energy.  Between shopping for dresses, and gathering addresses for all the guests, creating spreadsheets, and designing invitations, there's a

I have been hesitating writing this post for weeks.  Perhaps I have been in denial, hoping the situation would change somehow. Here goes... A few weeks ago, after many long months of being mistreated, taken advantage of, and basically being paid slave-wages, my fiance Dave quit his job.  I had watched my lovely partner go from an energetic,

That's right!  My honey, David, proposed to me a little over a week ago!  And at 4:45 a.m., just to make sure it was a surprise :)  We are both so excited.  I have been flitting around getting the venue booked and setting up registries, etc., so jewelry-making has taken a bit of a back seat, but I'm

EtsyMetal, a fabulous Etsy Street Team that I belong to, is 4 years old this month!  To celebrate, EtsyMetal is hosting giveaways each week, and a bunch of members are hosting sales in their shops each week!  This week, I am holding a 20% off storewide sale in my Etsy Shop.  Hop on over and check things out. 

EtsyMetal, an Etsy Street Team I belong to, is turning 4 this month!  As part of the celebration, I will be having a huge sale in my Etsy Shop starting Friday, October 15, through Thursday, October 21.  I will be listing new items in the next couple of days and hope to see you there!

EtsyMetal turns 4 years old this month!  Happy Anniversary EtsyMetal!  October Topic: EtsyMetal & Me When/Why did you join? Is it what you expected? What does it mean to you to be a part of the team? When/Why did you join?I have been a member of Etsy Metal for a few years now.  I joined in January of

I am so honored and grateful to be a part of the Reality Vs. Illusion show in Sydney, Australia.  It opens October 7th and runs through October 19th.  If you are in or around Sydney (or know someone who is), please stop by to see it! A little more info from Sonya Scott, Curator:"Reality and Illusion.....an ambiguous combination

The last few months have been....epic, to say the least.  For my small metalsmithing practice, I have rarely been so busy.  I have certainly not had huge projects back to back that make me into some crazed, obsessive, insanely focused work machine. I'm not complaining...I love the busy-ness and drive to create.However, I am so dearly looking forward

First, a disclaimer....I do not have a "professional" product photo set up, so these photos are not the highest quality.  When I get the lockets back (if they don't sell), I'll be taking much better photos with a much better set up.  I hope you enjoy! "That Trip We Never Took"Copper, Sterling Silver, Brass, Paint, PatinaFabricated8.7 x 6.7

9 years ago today, I was in Sydney, Australia. I'd been there for about 6 months, going to University.I lived alone and had very few friends (being the only white person in a school full of mostly Asian students was very difficult).  Luckily, my studies kept me extremely busy.My boyfriend at the time and I were just about

I was there,you were there.It was a three story house, with low linear windows across each floor.A thick divider, then more window above.We talked about the futurehow you liked it now,but knew it wasn't practical.You would age, so would your wife.This would do for now. There was a forest behindthose glass windows, divided by grey.We laughed about the

Here are a few more process shots of Locket #1.  This locket is full of challenges, and part of me is considering doing it over again.  Probably won't though.  Right now i'm making a faceplate for it to give me more working space for hinges.  Luckily, I JUST realized what I've been doing wrong.  I'll explain in my

If you have multiple shapes that all need to be the same size(see above hinge plates), but are a bit uneven upon cutting out, you can glue them together (I use crazy glue or rubber cement), allow to set, and file them all to the same size along the edges. After edges are filed to your desire, you

What can I say? I work in chaos. It drives me nuts but it works at the same time. It has something to do with keeping pieces out that I'm still working on and that are inspiring me.

This weekend has been a "getting down to business" type of weekend....taking care of details for an exhibition (oh, why does writing an artist statement have to be so hard?), cleaning house, setting up a website for the new joint venture with Dave (details coming soon), and getting things done, generally speaking.I'm glad for this little break in

Marian Hosking is one of Australia's foremost contemporary jewelers. Having studied at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in the 1960's, she has a wealth of experience that she brings to the field of metalsmithing. She has been an integral part of the jewelry and metalsmithing community in Australia.Her work evokes much of the natural world, where Hosking

(note: the Inspiration posts are simply little insights into me and what makes me tick. I hope you like them!)Ever since my bare feet could hit the ground, I have been surrounded by grass, pasture, trees, and home grown food. For a while, we had a garden that my dad tended...I distinctly remember him yelling at the horses

Sometimes, you just have to make a little oven (especially if you only have one torch to work with!)

I just spent the better part of an hour 'researching' about David Neale, a goldsmith in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia. I regularly read CLOG, a blog by Craft Victoria, and their post on Neale caught my attention today.Educated initially through an apprenticeship through a local goldsmith, but more formally at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Neale

What do these two objects have in common?They're both part of the lockets I am creating for an exhibition...

....I don't like them to be dying in my home, per se, but there can be something really beautiful about them. They way they change colors and textures, the different shapes they take on. There is something serene in their transformation.

After being rained in for the past four months, the Portland area was blessed with some sun over the weekend. Dave and I took full advantage, too! I am going to be his assistant at a wedding this coming weekend, so I wanted to get used to his Canon 30D that I'll be using. We went for a

Ocean Jasper Necklace with TourmalineThe Dalles Mountain Buttercup Necklace I finished up a couple of new necklaces today and wanted to share with you....I will soon be listing some pearl earrings to go with The Dalles Mountain Buttercup Necklace and I hope to start another charm necklace soon. For now, I need to start on some exhibition pieces