Owl Lover

 The warping night air having brought the boom

Of an owl’s voice into her darkened room,

We tell the wakened child that all she heard

Was an odd question from a forest bird,

Asking of us, if rightly listened to,

“Who cooks for you?” and then “Who cooks for you?”

Words, which can make our terrors bravely clear,

Can also thus domesticate a fear,

And send a small child back to sleep at night

Not listening for the sound of stealthy flight

Or dreaming of some small thing in a claw

Borne up to some dark branch and eaten raw.

The Barred Owl

~Richard Wilbur~ 

Obviously, I love owls.

I recently bought a print from Gretchen Powers of The Blooming Hare (who happens to be the sister of my best friend Heather Powers) after seeing the greatest owl wearing a sweater with mice emblazoned on it at the Inspired by Nature retreat.

Here is the original piece of art that the print is based on...

{Isn't that the most adorable thing?}

 I don't have the kind of money for buying original works of art, but I do have room in my budget for affordable prints. Check them out!


I enjoy making sweet owls every day for friends, old and new. Each one is different from the last. No two owls are alike. I like it that way. Making each one unique is like creating a new hoot-y friend. And then sending them off to fly to their new home to roost is even better.

{Great Grey Owl  - The Phantom of the North}

I stumbled on this blog that is dedicated to all things owl-y: My Owl Barn.

Shivani has a curated post just about every day with the sweetest collection of owls, from crafts to decorations, jewelry to stationery. From there I found her annual Owl Lover calendar.

{Woodsy Owl - the origina that started it alll!}

Every year Shivani brings out the best and brightest in illustration to contribute owl prints for the calendar.  (Including that print from Gretchen Powers, above). And in the most clever way imaginable, too! You can select the images that you want to go with each month, or select a pre-made version. But how fun is it to pick your own!?

And did I mention that it is FREE?

My niece is all about owls (it is her grade school mascot), so I am always on the hunt for something new for her. She always squeals with delight and wonders at how I knew that this was her favorite! ;-) So this year I selected the sweetest, most girly owl images from those available and printed up her very own Owl Lover calendar for 2014. And you can do the same!

{Snowy Owl - whoooo!}

I also decided that I would test the waters with advertising on the My Owl Barn site as a sponsor of the 2014 Owl Lover calendar project. Trying to reach out to those that love owls with the first animated .gif that I ever made!

 I do believe that every owl has a personality, and each owner of one of my owls has a distinct owl they are most like... the stately Great Grey Owl... the simple Woodsy Owl... the soft Snowy Owl... even the foolish Motley Owls. So tell me... Whooo are you?

Please feel free to grab this code and head on over to my new webstore at www.Tesoritrovati.com to get yours! (Offer good for 10% off your order of $25+)

Please go and check out the 2014 Owl Lover calendar maker (did I mention it was FREE?!) and see all the beautiful artistic representations of our favorite feathered friends!

Winter Snowflake Bird

"If I were a barefooted snow-bird, I know
I would not stay out in the cold and the snow.--
I wonder what makes him so full of his glee;
Chick-a-de-de, Chick-a-de-de,
And merrily singing his chick-a-de-de. - See more at: http://www.tesoritrovati.com/product/winter-snowflake-bird-limited-edition?tid=32#sthash.PPSmYv4m.dpuf

 If I were a barefooted snow-bird, I know
I would not stay out in the cold and the snow.
I wonder what makes him so full of his glee;
Chick-a-de-de, Chick-a-de-de,
And merrily singing his chick-a-de-de.

exerpt from Song of the Snow-Bird
~ T.S. Arthur, 1809-1885 ~

Song of the Snow-Bird, exerpt
by T. S. Arthur, 1809-1885
- See more at: http://www.tesoritrovati.com/product/winter-snowflake-bird-limited-edition?tid=32#sthash.PPSmYv4m.dpuf

"If I were a barefooted snow-bird, I know
I would not stay out in the cold and the snow.--
I wonder what makes him so full of his glee;
Chick-a-de-de, Chick-a-de-de,
And merrily singing his chick-a-de-de. - See more at: http://www.tesoritrovati.com/product/winter-snowflake-bird-limited-edition?tid=32#sthash.PPSmYv4m.dpuf

Every year I make new ornaments for family and friends. The last few years have been ornaments with my Simple Truths line. Last year, I made four different holiday botanical birds along with three different snowmen, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and tiny snowflakes. Whew! Just typing that, makes me tired!

This year I focused on poinsettias, cardinals and one lone holiday bird.

My limited edition Winter Snowflake bird is the first holiday themed piece that I am releasing.

I love the look of birds flitting about in winter. Their bright pops of color liven up the frosty landscape.
But I often wonder how exactly these snow-birds survive the cold.
I am not that great about being a friend to these feathered ones.
I always have lofty goals of setting out bird food and water.
Maybe this will be the year...

Recently, I came upon a service called ShopLocket. This service started as a way to do a pop-up shop anywhere that you can add a bit of HTML code. Like your Facebook business page... or your blog.

So I am testing it out.

I am also hoping that this works as a way for me to offer a limited run of Pop-a-Dot Magnetic Jewelry for all the fundraising that I am doing through that part of my business. Currently, I am at $2046 of my $2500 goal for donations for this year! I desperately want this ShopLocket thing to work because I have an idea for a fundraiser for the Philippines Typhoon Relief that I want to happen yesterday in the next few days.
More on that as it develops...

I have been recently migrating all of my Simple Truths over to my webstore (www.tesoritrovati.com).
This is where I will have all my custom, made-to-order pieces available.
The Etsy shop (www.tesoritrovati.etsy.com) will eventually be for one-offs and samples.
I do have this new limited edition bird on my website, but I am also trying something new....

I have this listed on my Facebook business page under the new 'Buy It Now' tab.
I also have it listed here on the blog.

So if you would like to adopt this Snowflake bird and give it a home on your neck or in your Christmas decorations, you have several ways to do that. But there are only a limited number of these birds that I will produce, so if you miss out you will have to wait for the Spring bird!

The Ripple Effect

"Imagine what our real neighborhoods would look like if each of us offered,
as a matter of course, just a kind word to another person.
There have been so many stories about the lack of courtesy, the impatience of today's world, road rage.
Sometimes all it takes is one kind word to nourish another person.
Think of the ripple effect that can be created when we nourish someone.
One kind empathetic word has a wonderful way of turning into many."

~Fred Rogers

My friend Kim Stevens of Picking Poppies is an amazing photographer with a poet's soul. I am not quite sure how we found each other, but I am so glad that we did! She regularly posts her beautiful images, spurred by a love of nature and every day life, along with beautiful posts. Today she wrote about being grateful.

Of course, this is the month of outwardly showing our gratitude. I have seen posts on Facebook showing something that the writer is grateful for each day. Those are the kind of posts that I wish there were more of on Facebook. Miss Kim wrote that she had a challenge and to hop over to a collaborative blog that she is part of called Focusing on Life to read more.

Her challenge is precipitated by the Mister Rogers' quote above.

Such a lovely and simply thought. The best ideas always are.

On Sunday, November 10th I was invited, as part of my ongoing relationship with Halcraft USA and the Bead Gallery line, to be a resident 'expert' at the local Michaels store as part of their first ever nationwide 'Pinterest Party'. Since I am likely one of the most frequent customers that the Plover Michaels has, it would be no problem for me to spend a little extra time in the store on a Sunday afternoon, even if I were going to miss the entire Packer game (which was a good thing I missed anyway as I understand it was a train wreck!). Of course, this was a 'volunteer opportunity' that would take me out of my studio for the day, but hopefully put me within arms reach of someone who could benefit from my knowledge.

I didn't know what to expect. The staff at Michaels didn't know what to expect, either. They were not given much direction from their corporate office other than the signage inviting people to "Don't Just Pin It, Make it!" I hope that if Michaels does this again, they might have a bit more information to offer, and specific projects, or an invitation to print off your favorite Pin and bring it in for assistance in making the project or tailoring it to your own tastes. It would have been great if there had been a WiFi connection in the store as I brought my laptop in case anyone wanted to take a look at Pinterest. And it would be awesome if there were 'experts' in all the different types of crafts (i.e., papercrafting, framing, kids crafts, holidays, beading, etc) that would be there to help. But of course, I have to remember that this was a 'volunteer opportunity' and that I don't work for the local Michaels, so that is just my own two cents.

The manager at the local store mentioned to two elderly ladies who regularly take the same jewelry technique classes over and over again (as they forget that they did!) that they were going to have an 'expert' in jewelry available. They were so very impressed and swore not to miss it, plus it was during the day since they don't drive at night.

Right on cue, at 1:00 pm, they showed up in the classroom, eager to learn. They brought their boxes and bins with the projects they were working on.

They introduced themselves as Georgiann and Mary Lou. They lived at the same assisted living center. Miss Geogiann had on a gorgeous retro multi-layered necklace that set off her striking white hair. Miss Mary Lou had had a stroke and so she had limited use of her hands, but she had a vibrant personality. They were both so eager to learn and to have the satisfaction of finishing their projects. They thought that I had flown in from some far off place ;-) and were surprised to learn that I only came from over the hill and two miles away!

Miss Georgiann was working on a blue and green multiple strand necklace with swarovski crystals, acrylic bling balls and lampwork along with a large turquoise colored stone as the focal. She was patterning her color scheme and the multiple strands after one of the examples hanging in the store. What I appreciated so much about her project was that she was truly making it her own, rather than struggling to make it exactly like the store model. She kept asking for approval of how it was looking, and I assured her that it was wonderful. I could tell that she had a plan, and that she had a definite sense of style. I simply nudged her in the right direction.

Miss Mary Lou had strung two sets of black beads alternating with the clear glass spacers that were on the cards into a long necklace that she was making as a gift for her mother. She had very precisely strung the alternating pattern and just didn't know how to finish it. And she wanted to make some earrings to match.

So we went off to the bead aisle to see what we could find.

I imagine that the bead aisle can be a bit daunting to someone new. I had to think back to when I started, not knowing what all the different components were used for, what the difference was between all the metals, not having a clue as to which tools that I needed to complete the work. I take for granted that I know all of these things today. And I am grateful for those along the way who answered my questions and showed me by their examples.

Once we had our supplies, we set to work to learn some skills, starting with crimping. We practiced crimping on some scrap wire. My preference is to use the two-step crimp pliers for a more polished look, but that was almost impossible for these sweet ladies to get the hang of, so we just went with the smooshing technique (why yes, that is a technique!) using the best grip you can get on the needlenose pliers. Not the finish that I would do, but certainly a confidence builder for these ladies.

I forget the things that seem obvious to me are not so commonplace to novices. Like the fact that you need to thread the wire with your crimp tube, through your clasp and back through the crimp tube in order to secure the clasp. We had a few hilarious moments when I kept popping off the top of the tiny vials of crimp tubes only to send that stopper flying through the air and the crimp beads rolling off the table and onto the floor! But actually seeing how to finish the ends of their necklaces led to such an immense sense of accomplishment for these two ladies. This information was like gold to them.

When it came to working with making loops in headpins with beads on them, that is a whole different set of skills. And tools. But Miss Mary Lou was very eager to learn, even though I knew that it would be a challenge for her and she likely didn't have the right tools at home. We made many practice runs on the head pins they had in the classroom, instead of ruining her more expensive sterling silver heart end head pins. Getting the knack of a simple loop should be simple, right? But I personally find them hard to make consistent and so it was with Miss Mary Lou. Eventually I showed her how I make a wrapped loop and she liked that look better. We ended up making a pretty little pair of dangle earrings to match, and she did the wire wrapping herself. You should have heard her ooh and aah!

I regret that I didn't take a picture of their finished projects. I could tell they were very proud of them.

When they were done, I started my own shopping for a holiday project for Michaels that I was assigned (heads up... there is a fashion shoot being done in NYC of my holiday tablescape pieces from this year and last! I can't wait to share that with you!). I was surprised to see Miss Mary Lou come around the corner looking for me.

While Miss Georgiann was in the car waiting, she wanted to seek me out to say thank you. And in her hand was $15. She tried to press that into my palm saying that they wanted to pay me for taking the time to work with them. I assured her that was not necessary. I told her that they were my 'something good' that day and it had been a true pleasure to be with them and share some of my 'secrets'. I told her to take that money and buy more beads so that they could make more pretty things! She truly couldn't believe that I was doing that! It was so sweet.

Meet my new friends, Miss Georgiann and Miss Mary Lou

I am sure that I gave these ladies an overload of information. Miss Georgiann kept telling Miss Mary Lou that she had to remember it for the both of them! I kept trying to tailor it to their level, their experience and their abilities. It might not have been how I would have finished them, but that is not the point. They successfully completed their projects and you could tell they were overjoyed by that. But in the end I think that I gained the most. Their smiles and enthusiasm were all the thanks that I needed.

And the ripple effect goes on.

What ripple effect can you start today?

 

How do you like them apples?

'With an apple, I will astonish Paris." ~ Paul Cezanne

This bold statement by the Master Artist Paul Cezanne seems a bit cocky and maybe even gloating, but that is exactly what he did.

At the time when Cezanne was painting, Impressionism was all the rage with its capture of light and shimmering movement. Cezanne set out to reinvigorate the Paris art scene with his novel approach. Rather than dabbing at the canvas with the thin, visible brush strokes of his contemporaries, Cezanne attacked his canvas with a palette knife, creating a structure and framework that focused on form and perspective.

Taking a relatively humble subject - a basket of apples - and elevating those everyday objects to a higher significance is truly art. And with that basket of apples he did astonish Paris.

Cezanne is credited with bridging the crossover from Impressionism to Modernism. Painters like Picasso and Matisse revered his work. He was called a Master of Perspective. He spent his career obsessed with visual perception - how we see what we see.

Still lifes were considered a trivial form of painting in Cezanne's time. But that minor importance was likely what drew him to it. With this neglected form, he was able to push the boundaries and create new conventions. I am sure that he was scoffed at initially, but his commitment to painting these everyday scenes won people over to him. He recorded the world as he saw it and the world liked what he saw.

This month, the Art Bead Scene is featuring Cezanne's famed The Basket of Apples (1893) painting for our inspiration.

At first glance, this arrangement looks simple: a bottle of wine, a toppled fruit basket, a crumpled tablecloth, a stack of cookies. When you look at this painting, you register those images and think that nothing is remarkable about it. But upon closer inspection, you notice that the painting has some oddities.

Everything seems a bit tipsy in this painting. The edges of the table are not consistent, as if you were looking at different angles depending on the side of the table you are seeing. The bottle is about to fall, the apples look like they might topple off the tippy table at any second, the cookies seem to be almost hovering on the plate. And everything has a sort of wonky quality to it. What is going on here?

The still life appears to be viewed from multiple angles, not a single point of reference as his predecessors would have done. It is as if you are moving around the table as you view it, with the planes of the table's geometry shifting as you do so. In fact, there are no right angles in this at all. It is the unbalanced parts that give this painting its balance. Perhaps Cezanne was simply shifting his perspective when he painted it, like setting up his easel in a different spot as he came to capture the image day by day, or even minute by minute.

There is a really delightful multi-media presentation of how this many have come to be told for the benefit of children through the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Check out Cezanne's Astonishing Apples and the children's story An Apple A Day. I can just envision him painstakingly arranging the tableau, and then progressively eating his way through his subject matter as he went!

In the past, artists painted from a fixed space and perspective, as if a snapshot recording the moment, forever trapping the subject in a frozen state, and the viewer along with them. But with this new approach, with the shifting perspective, Cezanne almost makes the image come more alive, like a moving video camera image.It makes me feel a bit woozy when I consider it this way!

For the Simple Truths Sampler Club in 2013 I have been focusing on using the Art Bead Scene inspiration art be my guide. (You can see a retrospective of the first 10 months of the year here.) What I first noticed was the shapes and colors of the fruit. I didn't even consider the odd arrangement. So for my Simple Truths Sampler Club for November, I focused on the colors and texture.

I recently learned some polymer clay tricks from Heather Powers at her Inspired by Nature retreat. Achieving a translucent, shimmering effect is what I was going for, since it feels like the light and shadows on the fruit make it so alive, and this technique was perfect. I have never really tried making beads before, but I had a whole stash of solid bead cores that just right for this challenge. So I fashioned a set of beads for the Club, with two hand-faceted rondelles paired with a stockier little barrel bead, that reminded me of 'them apples', with part of a quote from Dr. Wayne Dyer, author of the book Wishes Fulfilled, Mastering the Art of Manifesting (which sounds like a great book!)

"Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change."

I think that Master Cezanne would approve of the method and the message.

I am slowly moving my listings from my Etsy shop over to my webstore, www.tesoritrovati.com. I will be selling the custom, made-to-order items in the webstore and keeping the one-offs and samples in my Etsy shop. As things are selling out in the Etsy shop, I will not be replacing them. So in case you are interested, these beads as shown are available in my new webstore, www.tesoritrovati.com 

A set of two faceted rondelles: $14
A single barrel bead with the message 'change the way you look at things': $16
A set of all three beads: $25

4th Annual Challenge of Color :: ColourLovers Wordlinks

'I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music.' ~ Joan Miro


I love color. And I love words. Put those two things together and I am a happy camper.

This year is the 4th annual Challenge of Color and if you like color and words, I invite you to join me in a creative game!

Have you heard of Colourlovers.com?

"COLOURlovers is an international creative community that helps people discover their inner designer. We provide people with a wealth of user created & shared color inspiration as well as tools that make the creative process as simple as possible. Whether you’re simply looking for a color palette to kickstart your next project or want to produce a piece of vector art, we have the tools and services to help anybody from go from design inspiration to execution."

There are some great tools here if you love colors, like a color palette creator called COPASO. One of the things I like best is the community aspect. People follow each other, and encourage new color palettes, patterns and ways of using the colors. You can follow individual members called 'lovers.'

A few years ago, I stumbled on a group that was playing a game with the color palettes. This game reminds me of the game show Chain Reaction. Are you familiar with that game?

In this clever game show, two teams compete to complete chains of words after the first and last words of the chain are revealed. They do this by getting one letter at a time.

The WordLink game on ColourLovers is a similar concept.


From the wordlink instructions...

"with wordlink palettes you start with a two-word (or more) colour name. the next colour name has to start with the last word of the colour before it. each colour continues this way to the end. try to make the last word of the last colour the first word of the first colour. this is really hard, though."

Each color created on the site is given a name by it's creator (even you can create colors and name them!). This game is a challenge to make a link of the names (containing two or more words), with the last word in the name phrase matching the first word in the next color name phrase. Be careful! This can be addicting! And sometimes it makes for a surprisingly beautiful palette.

Here is an example that I made in 2011 showing the colors and the names in their linking order:

Colors in this palette, from left to right:

clear focus
focused mountain
mountains majesty
majesty of midnight
midnight angel

After I made the palette I was able to click the button below it to 'toggle widths' just for fun! And from the editing I was able to add this to the wordlinks group.

The WordLink game is progressive, meaning that the next palette starts where the last one left off. I don't really play it like that. I just like to challenge myself to create the wordlinks. And to play with colors. 

There is also a derivative of this game that is called a circular wordlink where the last word in the last color of the palette is the first word in the first color of the palette. That is pretty challenging, but I actually did it the other day!

Here is an example (that I did not make - you can see my circular wordlink palette below) that shows the circular nature of the palette...

Colors in this palette, from left to right:

Beach Balloon

Balloon Ghost

  Ghostly Looks

Looks like a storm

Storms on the Beach

The ColourLovers.com website can be searched by the name of the colors that the community members have created, so the trick to doing this is to pick a word to search by and start with the first color that grabs you. 

So, what do you think? Do you think that you want to play a little color game and be inspired by it?

Here is what I propose for the Challenge of Color...two options...one that is simple and one that is a twist! (You didn't think I would forget the twist, did you?)

Option 1: The Simple Challenge

1. Go to Colourlovers.com and peruse their palettes.
2. Pick one that you like. (This might well be the toughest challenge... to narrow down the choices!)
3. Grab the palette by grabbing the html code in the Share This Palette area, or selecting Get This Palette Image to download a jpg)
   
4. Another method I have found is to use the Windows Snipping Tool.

Option 2: The Twist Challenge

You know I love a twist! It is actually easier than it sounds, once you get the hang of it!

1. Go to Colourlovers.com. 
2. Create an account (important: this will allow you to create and save palettes).
3. Open up two windows (not tabs). 
4. Optional: Have a pen and a pad of paper handy to jot the color names down.
5. In one window, open COPASO (or Basic, like I do because I find COPASO a bit intimidating ;-)
6. In the other window, open Colourlovers.com and Browse>Colors.
7. Click the Search button to find colors by a keyword. Choose any keyword that you like! (Let's use the word 'cinnamon')
8. From the list of colors that comes up, scroll until you find one that you like, making sure that the color name has at least two descriptive words.
9. See that Hex number? That is the secret. Double-click on that number and copy it.
10. Switch over to the first window and paste the Hex number in the box indicated.
11. Just below this color picker, you will see a few fields. In the Description field, type the name of the color and the hex code.
12. Go back to the second window and search on the last word in the color name (for this instance, search for 'sticks'). You can be relaxed about how the term fits, like 'stick' instead of 'sticks.'
13. To add the next color, click on the square you want to put it in to highlight it (a line will be over that square) and repeat steps 10 and 11. 
14. Keep repeating these steps until you fill all five colors in the palette. (Don't forget to write the names of the colors down!)
15. To share the palette on your own blog, see step #3 in Option 1 above.

Here is the palette I created called sweet cinnamon magic

I would suggest practicing. You might actually find it quite addicting!

Participating in the 4th Annual Challenge of Color is as easy as 1-2-3!

1. Regardless of which option you choose (Option 1: Simple or Option 2: Twist), create something (any creative medium is fair game!) inspired by the palette you select or create using the colors in any concentration of your choice. 
2. Blog about your palette and your creation any time during the month. 
3. Add your blog post URL to the InLinkz code available on the reveal date, Monday, December 2nd.

So, are you with me?

The sign up below will only be for me to get a sense of who is playing with me and in a few days I will email you all through this to keep you moving forward on the challenge. 

Join the 4th Annual Challenge of Color

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Inspired by Reading :: My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me

I love fairy tales.

So when my friend Andrew Thornton asked me to play along with the Inspired by Reading book club creative team this month - inspired by the book 'My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me' - I took on that challenge. However, due to all the traveling that I did this month, I knew that I wouldn't be able to order the book so I asked him to just select two at random for me to choose from. Andrew tried twice to mail me some stories, but they got lost along the way, with one parcel finally making its way to me last week. He also was kind enough to send me some last week that I think he may have taken pictures of with his phone - clever! And in the meantime, I did buy a copy of the book for my daughter's Kindle. So little by little I have been savoring the stories and will continue. They are marvelous and varied.

The book 'My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me' is a group of 40 or so fairy tales written by contemporary artists., compiled by Kate Bernheimer. Some are retellings in very clever ways of the stories that we know from our childhood; some are completely new. But the model they use and the motifs are instantly familiar even in their strangeness.

I love the rich symbolism, the vivid imagery, the circular telling, the anthropomorphic creatures, the cautionary warnings in fairy tales. I love the timeless quality and the strange cast of characters, that feel like old friends.

Have I told you that I used to be an English teacher? Perhaps I took up English as a major for all those fairy tales I read as a child. To pass along the knowledge and the rich tapestry of those stories to others. Although I only officially taught for five years, I still have a teacher's soul. And my favorite unit to do every year was the Storytelling unit. So I loved reading Kate's foreword about her life enmeshed with tales of all sorts.

In my class, we would deconstruct fairy tales down to their basics and pick out recurring themes. We would talk about how fairy tales were used as tools to teach and even explain natural phenomena. I used to use the story of Cinderella as my example in class. Did you know that there are over 300 documented Cinderella stories from around the world? No matter the language, they all have certain things in common. The students always found that fascinating, especially when we read the real tales, by Grimm and Andersen, not the saccharine Disney-fied brightly colored world they were fed as a child.

So reading this book is like taking a journey back into my past. You don't know where you are going, and you are not sure which path to take, but there is a delight around every corner and lots of sites to see.

The story that I selected is 'First Day of Snow' by Naoko Awa.
  

Naoko Awa (1943-1993) was an award-winning writer of modern fairy tales from Japan. As a child, Awa read fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, and Wilhelm Hauff, as well as The Arabian Nights, which later influenced her writings. She earned a bachelor's degree in Japanese literature from Japan Women's University.

This story follows a young girl who happens upon an ordinary chalk hopscotch and can't resist the urge to jump in the circles. What happens next is anything but ordinary.

It was a cold day in late autumn. On a path running straight through the village, a young girl crouched down, looking at the ground. She tilted her head and breathed deeply, "Who has hopscotching here?" she wondered aloud.

Hopscotch rings, drawn in chalk, continued endlessly on the path - across the bridge and toward the mountains. The girl stood up. "What a long hopscotch!" she cried, widening her eyes. When she hopped into  a ring, her body became as light as a bouncing ball.

I immediately doodled swirling circles on my copy. I envisioned links, every widening, like ripples on a pond. I could see the path that was leading the girl away from the village.

The hopscotching starts out as a game, but soon the girl realizes that she can't stop. With each hop she is getting further from her home. Then the snow starts to blow. It is then that she is aware of snow-white bunnies in front of and behind her chanting,

"We're snow rabbits white as snow
And snow falls everywhere we go
White as snow, we never stop
One foot, two feet, hop, hop, hop."

Of course, this chant reminds the young girl of what her wise grandmother told her about how the first day of snow is brought by rabbits that hop so fast that all that you can see is a white blur. Little children who get caught up in it will get whisked away to the end of the earth. It is then that she remembers that the way to break the spell is with a mugwort leaf.

Now, I had no idea what a mugwort leaf was, so of course, I did a little research.

According to the Happy Herb Company, mugwort was considered by ancient cultures as 'the universal herb for protection and prophecy.' It was used to ward off evil spirits and promoted lucid dreaming. This weedy plant has spiky leaves with a deep green top, but turning them over reveals a soft cotton underside.

The girl in the story tries to stop the bunny chant from taking over her mind so she can call out the words, "Mugwort, mugwort, mugwort in the spring!" to break the spell of eternal winter. It is only through asking the bunnies a riddle about the mugwort leaf that she breaks their rhythm and stops the snow, landing her in a village many thousands of miles away.

This story deals with themes of disappearance, wisdom and cleverness, and resourcefulness. While fluffy bunnies are hardly the most sinister of characters, the fact that they are something so sweet that can do something as insidious as whisking away a child gives you pause. The girl was resourceful and listened to the words of her elder to find a way out of the trap. And there is even a happy ending to this tale.

For my piece, I envisioned a necklace, with swirling hopscotch circles and soft colors blending from icy winter tones to hopeful spring ones.

• In my stash, I happened to have the cutest little bunny from Rebekah Payne of Tree Wings Studio. I just adore her little sleepy animals. I can imagine the bunnies hopping along in their rhythm could be very sleepy and caught up in their repetitive action. I think that I might make a few more rings around this bunny to give more visual weight to this focal.
• I made the rings from steel wire with seeds in snowy shades and transitioned to greens once the spell was broken.
• Using a technique that I learned from Heather Powers at the Inspired by Nature retreat, I created my own mugwort leaf that shimmers with a luminescent sheen
• And I finished with a mix of silk, wirelace, and fluffy cotton fibers to weave the path of the girl and the unraveling she must have felt when she knew that she couldn't stop. 

Ultimately, the mugwort proves to be a powerful herb of protection and sets the girl free.

"We're the color of spring
of the hairs on a mugwort leaf
One foot, two feet, hop, hop, hop."

Thank you, Andrew for inviting me to play along! Please go over to Andrew's blog to see a full list of participants and the stories that inspired them.

Inside the Studio & Inspired by Nature

Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing. Innovation is the production or implementation of a creative idea. If you have ideas, but don’t act on them, you are imaginative but not creative.
—Linda Naiman

I know. I have been very silent of late. I am still here!

I have been reorganizing my studio bit by bit, and when it is more presentable I will share the new usable space.

I have been making new jewelry for the upcoming holiday blitz at all the places the sell my work, like Gallery Q, Northern Memories and Girls in Pearls boutique.

I have been playing with thin gauge metal thanks to Stacie Florer. And I just got my complete set of Caran d'Ache crayons. A hefty purchase, but the colors are so amazing! And you know that feeling that you get when you open a box of crayons and they are all standing at attention waiting for you to do something? Yeah, I have that big time. Thanks to Christine Damm, I have new color techniques to explore!

I also had my one and only show that I do each year, the A.R.T.S. Night, supporting the Women's Fund of Portage County. I only brought my Pop-a-Dot Jewelry and while that caused a few eyebrows to raise, and some overall confusion, it was a pretty good night. I had a lot of sales, and I am not sure how much that means (they do all the money and send me a check, less my 25% donation, in a few weeks). But I feel good that it was received well, especially the biggest sale of the night to a landscape artist and internationally known local art professor who is married to a custom goldsmith who has world renown! She giggled the entire time she picked out the Dots as she said her husband would never let her wear them, but they were more like her! That 'something good' made my night. ;-)

I am all packed up and ready to start the 6+ hour drive to South Haven, MI for the 3rd Annual Inspired by Nature retreat with Heather Powers. I get to teach a little bit this weekend.

I am a little bit nervous. Not that I can't teach. That comes naturally. But when Heather asked me to share some of my 'nifty tips' I drew a blank. I don't think that what I do is all that 'nifty'. It seems more commonplace to me. But she encouraged me and told me that the little touches that I do are what is 'nifty'. So I have come up with 7 tips with several variations. Of course, at midnight when I wanted to print the final handout, I only got 9 of the 18 I needed before my color laser printer ran out of black ink.

And today is my day to share on Art Bead Scene for Inside the Studio. I looked back at the last eight months of the Simple Truth Sampler Club. I surprised myself! I was not even aware of all the things that I created that matched the artwork there. I feel right chuffed, as my friend Rebecca would say. I do hope you will come by and see. You have the chance to win one of my owls from the latest parliament.

Have a great weekend everyone! I'm off!