New on Kindle

Now you can buy my book "Gem Tree Sculptures" on the Kindle. I went out today and purchased one... now isn't that sad that I have to purchase my own book. If you have a Kindle and have been wanting to get a copy of my book this is the perfect way and it is only $9.99 vs. $17.99 for the paper copy. The book's photos and graphics are in B&W so they look just as good on the Kindle as the book. Here is the link to the Kindle edition.

Okay enough blatant advertising. How about a few more pictures from our trip through the Panama Canal. We took a 19 day cruise on Holland America from Vancouver, BC to Fort Lauderdale. So the last pictures I shared were of our stop in San Diego and next we went to Puerto Vallarta. We did a city highlights tour and I think the highlight for my hubby was when he took this picture. I really just wanted to pet the iguana and next thing I knew it was on my shoulder and a gecko was on my head.

We did go to the city center and see Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. There were so many visitors but the church was definitely at the heart. The pictures we took of the church didn't turn out as well as we would have liked due to the sun being in the wrong position.

There was lots of shopping to be expected and I would say aggressive vendors but not as bad as other places. We just had to learn to walk away if it wasn't the price we were willing to pay.

Here is one of the vendor shops located right at the port.

Lots of colorful wares but we held back and didn't buy anything..... at least not at this port.

Stay tuned .... more vacation photos coming.

Gem Tree Gone Wild

Today was just one of those days. I don't feel that I accomplished anything. I do have everything organized for the class I'm teaching later this week, but it isn't packed yet. I still have time. Oh wait, I think I said that yesterday. Okay tomorrow everything will get packed.

In my quest to get all the gem tree supplies and kits ready for the class I went to a major fabric store today....yes it is a bit of an obsession and I do go there more than once a week, but I just couldn't help myself. So, while I was waiting on my number to be called to get some interfacing cut, I wandered the store. 30 minutes later and my number wasn't even close to being called but I found myself in the scrapbook area. I love looking for unusual items to use in my jewelry or on my gem trees or in this case you could call it a wire tree sculpture. So to give my students a look at what they can create with something not a gemstone, I used these little metal tags. They were even on sale for .99 a pack so I bought several. It definitely makes a different little tree. A little black wire and some crystals and it has a little bling, just my kind of tree.

I've really started thinking about joining in on the monthly ABS (Art Bead Scene) Challenge. This month the challenge is to create a piece based on a sculpture by Alexander Calder called Blue Feather circa 1948.

Humm, do you see a resemblance between the swing arm and my tree branches? I'm thinking some beautiful teardrop briolettes dangling from one side and dark pearls or maybe some black onyx rondells at the top. Now I just have to figure out how to bring in the other elements of the structure into a necklace design. It's very futuristic with hard edges and geometric shapes.

Check out the ABS blog for some of the prizes that could be won and rules to joining.

Have a great week.

Oh, What to do Now!

I think I have created a monster. Yes, that is me. Being off work (forced retirement) has it's advantages and disadvantages. The best for me is being able to make jewelry, gem trees and sew whenever I want. Now you are probably wondering what is the disadvantage about that....well one of the obvious is less money to buy the supplies needed to make all those wonderful things and the other is that I am terribly disorganized and tend to work on my little projects and not my special orders. I'm also accumulating things faster than I am selling them.

The one new thing is my purses. I've made three now and learned something new on each one, so none of them are of a standard I would sell, but maybe the next one, hence the accumulation. I also have way too many ideas for projects that I just can't get to and have found myself working on several all in the same day and not finishing any of them. Okay, I finished a purse yesterday but I have gem trees to make and still don't have all of them finished.

When I was working I was able to focus on what was important (like special orders) get those completed and then work on my little projects. Now I get up in the morning and feel that I have all the time in the world (no job to go to) and sometimes just putter the day away doing my little projects. LOL, I think I need to focus. Maybe start a list each morning of those things I really need to accomplish (like laundry today and gem trees) and tackle those first and then if I have time left over, work on my other projects.

If you have any ideas, please let me know, other than go back to work that is.

BTW, my March newsletter is out and in it is a coupon to purchase my book "Gem Tree Sculptures" for $10.00 vs. $17.99. This offer is only good until 4/1/10, so sign up today (right hand column) and I'll send you the newsletter with the coupon in it.

I'm so Finished

Okay, so finished is so final, but I can say that I am finished with competing with gem trees. I made my "Masters" at the Regional and National level and that was my goal. I updated my gem tree blog, so if you want to see the picture of me with my display and ribbon you can check it out HERE. I've included just a picture of my tree display on this blog. Several of the trees were some I competed with last year with 2 new ones. The palm tree I wanted to finish just wasn't up to competition standards, but I'll get the design down and include it in the next book.

This week has just been flying by. You wouldn't have known it the past couple of nights as I was stressing over my tree display and whether I would qualify. No more worries for now. I am selling books and teaching the next few afternoons here in Montana and that will be fun.

Next week I'll get back on my regular blog posting schedule so you'll see some new feature artists and fun new jewelry designs...hopefully.

Friday Wrap Up

Well I made my first sale on-line of my book today, yea, and I only had it listed now for a couple of days. This is a good sign. I'm hoping that more people will find the value of making these little gem trees for themselves and for gifts. So, I'm excited.

I spent the morning finishing a tutorial to put out on my Etsy and ArtFire shops of the Standard Gem tree, so it is complete and ready to go. Those not wanting to purchase the whole book with 8 tree designs can just purchase the tutorial and I'll e-mail them the .pdf file. Simple for me and great for them as it is the same instruction as what is in the book plus a few color photos vs. the B&W.

This afternoon my husband and I took the boy to see the new Harry Potter movie. It was good. It had been awhile since I read the book and it seemed that there were parts missing....maybe I need to re-read the book. After that it was back to the house, where the boy spend a good 30 minutes playing with our dog Buddy and the water hose....I kind of forgot to have him change into his swim trunks. Oh, well, both dog and boy dry well.

Speaking of the boy, we went to the waterfront a couple of days ago with the dogs and I snapped a couple of shots to share with you.

Hope you all had a great week and I look forward to what the future holds.

Saturday Chores

Today was chore day or maybe a little late Spring cleaning. I started vacuuming the living room due to all the dogs bringing in leaves and twigs and then moved to the kitchen. That's pretty much were I stayed all day. It was a disaster area that really hadn't been organized or deep cleaned since we painted. So, out went all the items on the counter tops that never got used, cabinets were washed, pot and pan cabinet was cleaned out as well as the cabinet over the stove..yuk all that greasy build up. Then I moved onto the corner window with the plants and thinned those out before moving to the bar area which is a catch all for everything when we come home at night. So far it's looking pretty good, not sure when I'll get to the dining room, but my goal is to de-clutter the entire house while I'm off work. I would show you a before and after shot of the kitchen, but I didn't take a before and you might not be impressed with the after, but I am, and right now that's all that matters.

I wasn't very productive this week with the 11 yo in tow, but I did get one of my competition trees completed for Montana. I just have to glue it to a rock. Marketing items such as business cards and postcards were worked out with the printer, so hopefully I'll get a final proof early this week. My copies of the BOOK "Gem Tree Sculptures" should be in this week also. I'm sure it will be a busy week. I'll try to get some jewelry designs completed and pictures taken for next weeks post.