Seashells...

...some of my favorite things. I was lucky enough to be born and raised in south Louisiana, so the beach was only a few short hours away. Over the years, I've collected quite a few [to say the least] seashells. Most are sprinkled throughout my house, in various baskets and bowls, or just sitting proudly on a shelf in my book case. But then there are those that are crammed into a box in the closet, un-loved and un-admired. So yesterday morning, while I was sitting here drinking my java, I pulled the box out and started looking at them all, individually, one by one. Then, it came to me...since most of them have holes already, why not make something really cool with them that I can share with others...and voila ~ here are two that I created yesterday:this one is called "Beachcomber" and is chockablock full of tiny gemstones, pearls and glass danglies. And then there is this one:named "Pulling muscles from a shell" and is full of tiny garnet stones and coral beads. And I made another one last night, that I haven't listed yet, or even taken pictures of. You can check the shop later this afternoon for a peek at it. It will be called "The world is your oyster", since I used on oyster shell to create it. It's really awesome ~ my favorite, so far.and I just love this! A little rain soaked daisy that looks like it's "peeking out" to make sure the rain has stopped and the coast is clear.

Have a great day everybody!! I'm off to creative land. It's way to hot outside to do anything else, but swim and I don't feel like swimming today.

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway." ~ Mary Kay Ash

Censored Art & Mountain Tops....

Ahhhh....the weather has just been gorgeous here!!! So yesterday, we hiked up to the top of "Black Balsam Knob" with Ozzy & Lita {mistake}. I don't know why Ozzy thinks everything {dogs, people, lizards, cats, etc.} need "herding". We got all the way to the top of Black Balsam Knob and I got someone up there to take our picture for our Christmas Cards this year {which I think turned out really good}:And then Ozzy decided that this little fat Jack Russell Terrier up there somehow needed herding. Well, the Jack Russell wanted no part of Ozzy, or his herding, so he started running and Ozzy started chasing....they went half way back down the trail and then half way up another mountain, with Wayne and the Jack Russell's owner on their tails yelling "stop, sit, stay, wait, etc." to no avail! They finally stopped, on their own, and just stood there, looking at each other. Well, the Jack Russell's owner was very upset {understandably, since Ozzy was about three times his size}. He started yelling at Wayne about keeping the dogs on leashes, if we can't control them, blah de blah. But, his dog wasn't on a leash either and obviously, he couldn't control his dog, so I think he was mad @ Ozzy, Wayne and his own dog. I just kinda giggled to myself, since nobody was hurt and both Ozzy and the Jack Russell certainly could use the exercise {hee hee}. It was a beautiful day, though and Ozzy & Lita had a great time:I think I'm going to get this one printed & framed.

So, the winner of the "Bird Girl Journey" necklace is Jen!!!! Yay!! Ozzy loves you!!! He actually "licked" #1 and then grabbed #2 and tried to eat it! Thanks for posting comments, everybody!! Check back Wednesday for holiday shopping updates/discount codes & shipping information. Plus, another awesome "freebie"!! Ya'll are the best!!!!

Well, I decided NOT to do the after Thanksgiving show in Cashiers @ the cute little cottages. Although, it's cute and a great idea, my art ended up being ridiculously censored. I was told that this venue is geared more towards "upscale" art, rather than "funky" and that they did not want any "New Age" or "Fundamentalist" items there, namely "Skulls, Shrunken Ex-Boyfriends", Peace Signs, Goddesses or Fairies". Well, all of you that know me, know that most of my items would fall in the "funky" category! Actually my banner, my business cards and the sign on my car say "funky jewelry for your inner flower child" ~ so "humph" ~ they can keep their "upscale" clientele and I'll keep my funky peeps, like ya'll!! And this was a "juried" show! So, I don't know why they waited until after they accepted me and then told me what I could and could not sell! Oh well, their loss ~ my gut feeling told me I wouldn't make much money there anyway and end up wasting two whole days right after Thanksgiving, which tends to be the time I get really busy.

So thanks for listening, and loving my funky stuff!!! I love ya'll!!!
♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression" ~ First Amendment of the US Constitution

Peace & Love - 40th Anniversary of Woodstock & A Poll!

Hey Everybody!!! Can you believe this weekend is the 40th Anniversary of "Woodstock"! One of my little bracelets made the cover of this collage for the blog post on the "Peace and Love" 1,000 Markets Marketplace! I LOVE 1,000 Markets! If you haven't visited the site already, please do ~ it's really awesome! And, I love the fact that it's not full of "junk" like Etsy is starting to be. Etsy is getting to be more and more like E-Bay, which sucks!!! Most of the things I've seen on there lately are NOT handmade ~ just a bunch of garage sale crap, if you ask me. Let's do a poll and find out what you think. The Poll is posted on the upper left hand side of my blog ~ please take it when you get a second ~ Thanks!

So, the winner of the $20 Gift Certificate is {insert drumroll here} Jen!!!!!! Yay!!! Lita ran off with your name, but by process of elemination, I figured out it was you! Congratulations!!! Have fun shopping with your $$

Whew ~ some more house guests left about an hour ago and now I'm going to sit @ my desk all day and make some new stuff! I hope everybody has a wonderful weekend! Don't forget to take the poll!!!
♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life." ~ Henry David Thoreau

Rest In Peace...

The gripping story of the baby whale that was lost this week in Australia has just been heart-wrenching, to say the least. I made this little necklace yesterday and named it "Colin", as a tribute to that little whale. It's for sale in the shop and 100% of the proceeds will be donated by me in his name to "The Whale Center Of New England". The people there devote their whole lives to the studying, habitats & saving of whales. Hopefully, through their efforts, more can be learned about whales and this terrible tragedy will never happen again if people actually know "what to do". Thanks for reading.

Here's a "virtual rose" I picked just for you from my yard :)

Happy Friday ~ xxoo & peace always ~ Kathy

"Save the Whales"

Simple Things....

...our little cherry tree was just bursting with cherries and we couldn't wait for them to get ripe enough to pick. The branches were so heavy with cherries that the tree was literally almost doubled over:and then....over night, they were gone in a flash! All because of this little gal:

...and the fact that it was broad daylight and we were all {Ozzy & Lita, too} watching her out of the window, didn't even seem to bother her in the least. She just munched away on the last dangling cherries and then trotted off into the forest, after turning and posing long enough for me to take her picture. So now I'm down to a couple of strawberries, 2 peach trees, 8 blueberry trees {that I'm sure will be "picked over" soon enough} and an herb garden that is totally out of control. So we just threw in the towel and went on a hike. Like I've said before, it's the little things that count the most anyway. And at least our fruit trees are benefiting somebody, if not us...I'm not that crazy about cherries anyway :O)We hiked up to "Wintergreen Falls" in Dupont Forest and it was absolutely gorgeous and just what I needed to "de-stress", after almost two weeks of waiting for my computer to be fixed. If you want to see all of our pictures, you can click on Wayne and it will take you to "Flickr" ~ enjoy. There were also some gorgeous bright orange wildflowers growing up there, too:
I hope you had a wonderful week! Happy Friday!!!

xxoo & peace always ~ Kathy

"Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy" ~ Anne Frank

Gorgeous Druzy & Words of Thanks

This is the awesome new necklace I made yesterday morning, while I drank my coffee. I can concentrate better once I've uncluttered my brain with mundane tasks and filled it with creativeness. I really like it, too. It's so clean and simple, yet striking at the same time. Of course, it's for sale in the shop so check it out.

Now, since Lora brought it up and decided that it was "okay" for me to gloat about the whole Hilary Swank thing, I decided she was absolutely right! I should be proud of myself and every once and a while give myself that all to deserving "Pat on the back", if you will. So, here is the note she sent me - pretty darn impressive, I must say so myself:

She misspelled the word "inspirations", but who's counting ~ right. We all know what she meant. I do the same thing all the time when I'm writing. Anyway, the story is, for those that don't know:

When she was in Louisiana filming "The Reaping", she purchased 3 of my necklaces from a shop where I had jewelry on consignment. One of them she wanted longer, so I fixed it for her and I also gave her a few "lagniappe" pieces as well. Not only did she send me this sweet little note, she actually did go on my website, called me and bought 19 more necklaces. She came and met me @ an Art Festival where I was selling my jewelry to pick them up and then took a lot of my things back to the set with her to sell for me (can you imagine - Hilary Swank was selling my jewelry for me). It was quite an exciting thing for me, so thank you all for thinking the same.

I'll write more later, but for now I have work to do. Thanks for reading my ramblings all the time and loving my work. I appreciate every single one of you.

xxoo ~ Kathy