I Love Life

I found this today as I was packing, its something that someone wrote that my mom had copied, but brought a smile to my face and a tear in my eye.....


I love Life

Things aren't the same
as they used to be;
my kidneys have failed
and I'm not as free.

I get a little tired
and my fingers are numb,
my blood pressure's low
and my legs cramp some.

My veins are bigger
and my skin is tan,
they poke needles in my arm
whenever they can.

I'm attached to a machine
three days a week
and hope to God
my blood doesn't leak.

They put in some Heparin
and then E.P.O,
a little more Saline
and away I go.

But I'm still happy
with what I've got;
I'm still alive
and it's better than not.

I can still hear the whistle
of the wind and the trees,
and the musical laughter
of my kids as they tease.

I can still see snowflakes
on a white winter day,
and smell the aroma
of a new mown hay.

I can still feel the breeze
as the boat gently sways,
on the lake as it ripples
on hot lazy days.

I can still see the color
of the sky so blue,
and look out the window at a snowbird or two.

I can still bake a pie
and some cookies too,
put on the coffee
and visit with you.

And what is more wonderful
than soup on the pot,
and bread from the oven
still fresh and hot.

Good food, good friends,
and a glass of wine,
memories of this
are still all mine.

By: Mardell Peters

Autumn

As fall is approaching many changes are going on. The thought of a new place to live, new faces, watching the leaves changing, seeds falling and pumpkins on peoples porches makes me excited for warm winter nights in front of a fire on the couch with a warm blanket. I miss seeing the leaves changing and the bright colors of a changing season. This area mostly pine trees has few colors but slight colors bring excitement. I have scouted the backyard and have picked up seeds and a few green specimens that I can salvage for winter jewelry making. The fig tree in the backyard has produced fruit for the first time!

Tribal Art

Learning metalsmithing techniques is a little more difficult than I thought it would be. I've started to incorporate some soldering and bezel setting in with my metal clay designs. This
project was simply going to be non metal clay.
I started making this necklace simply in separate pieces. I had soldered domed copper discs onto copper washers.

I was experimenting with heat patinas when I decided to make earrings out of them. Somehow in the mix I decided to do a separate handmade copper chain with ball end rivets. It just needed something!!! I took apart the earrings, soldered them together then make a form to hang it from.

Voila! Tribal Art!!

Dougs Ring

I found an unusual piece of driftwood on one of my beachcombing expeditions. I kept it as I usually do with some of my found objects. My boyfriend asked me if I could make him a ring, not too chunky with a design of some sort..... I showed him the texture
on the piece of driftwood and he loved it. It became amission to make this ring and somehow put a special message inside! The only way to capture the texture on this piece of wood was to take a strip of polymer clay, bake the clay to form a hard flat textured mold. I rolled out the Metal Clay 5 cards thick onto the mold and formed it on the mandrel to dry. Once dry I filled in the seam with paste and sanded down the entire piece to refine. I added the heart inside by cutting a thin piece of clay and pasting it to the inside. After firing I added a dark patina and polished the entire piece.

I loved how it turned out. I decided to add this to my shop as a made to order piece. I also made a matching band for women. I was so exited to learn that this also made the front page of Etsy!!! How exiting!

New Rings

I'm completely addicted!!! Now that I know how to make a

bezel setting I have completely gone crazy nuts and can't
stop! This one is a bit chunky made from a shell cabochon.

The back piece is metal clay attached to a sterling silver

band. I took this to the art gallery and it sold! This one
was fun to make!

Ring Projects!

After teaching myself to solder, I then challenged myself to learn how to set a bezel!! I had made a shank for a ring. It was already fired and ready to attach to a design. I made a back plate in metal clay, fired it, then soldered a formed bezel to the back plate. Once it was attached I added a found beach stone to the bezel setting then formed the bezel around the stone. I decided to keep this one for myself! Love it! My first bezel!

Going in Different Directions

Recently the last few months have been involved in teaching myself new jewelers techniques. I spent time learning to solder onto metal clay along with soldering other metals. Boy, was this different than pipe soldering! I learned that soldering onto metal clay was a challenge because metal clay once it is fired is very porous. When putting solder on this medium once heated the pores sucked up the solder. Finally after many failed attempts I made my first joined metal clay piece!!! This continued to my painted leaf project which finally became a necklace!

Front Page of Etsy!

I went into my emails today and what did I find? A notification that I was on the front page of Etsy! Squeeling I ran around notifying all my friends. Boy does it feel good to know that I finally took a picture that was front page worthy! I checked my Etsy site and 416 views with 21 hearts!