Time for me!

Thankfully the past couple days I've gotten to bed early enough to stay up when I get Gracie off to school.  That has given me more time than normal to work on my jewelry.  What I can get done in one uninterrupted hour in the morning is amazing.  Just this morning I made four new steampunk pieces.  And I got them and the four I made yesterday and the custom piece sealed. 

Over the holiday I decided that one of the things I need most now is more time for me.  I will always be a mom to my girls and a wife to my husband, but I also need to be me. I need to make me as happy as I try to make them.  It kinda reminds me of a quote, "If momma's not happy, no one is happy."  So I'm doing more and more for me all the time.

So these mornings have been a blessing.  Fire up the Keurig, sit down with my box of pieces and let the inspiration flow. 

Here are some pictures of the pieces I just finished.  They aren't done drying and aren't listed yet...but I think they turned out well :)

The "Ahha" moments

Sometimes when I sit down to my little jewelry making are...my hubby's desk that I have overtaken...I have a perfectly good idea of what I want to make in mind.  Then there are those times when I have no clue whatsoever on what I could make out of something.  Most of the time it is the latter.
I sit down, lay everything out and play with pieces like they are my youngest daughters building blocks.  "This one goes here, that one goes there."  "No wait, that doesn't work!"  (I've left out the mumbled curse words that exit when something doesn't go just right.)  And then, if I'm lucky, there is this moment...what I call my "Ahha" moment.  All my blocks, if you will, fit. 
That is what happens every time I make something for my New Life Collection and my Adorned Collection.  Those never have an idea before hand.  And lets face it, I can't draw worth a darn, so I don't pre-plan my works by drawing.  I just do. 
Lately I've been having so much fun with these two lines.  Especially the Adorned Collection.  I like taking something that is pretty on it's own and giving it my own flair.  I've been dabbling in the steampunk area too which to me is one of the most fun of all.  It gives me complete creative control.  Plus, I enjoy taking things apart.  Finding things at thrift stores and junk sales are exciting to me.  I buy them up and then can't wait to pull them all apart and make something new.  For me, since lets face it I'm still learning, pendants are the easiest to make.  But there is still the element of not knowing what I'm going to make out of them.  Then there is the "Ahha" moment when I start visualizing all the elements going together. 
I play out a little story in my head...this gear goes there and this on top of it like they are trying to work together but just can't make it, and this diamond accents here because it is the dream they are trying to reach.  (I know, corny, but it is what my mind does while I'm designing.) 
When done, I have this piece that maybe I'm the only one that completely understands it, but you just can't take your eyes off it.  It is unique.  It is funny.  It went through my "Ahha" moment.
Here is just one example of that moment, "Guardian of Time".  It is a sold piece.